Features

‘Southpaws’ adjust to right-handed world

Kendall Simmons and Niya Dillard|January 24, 2019

When they pick up a pencil, Molly Groves, Griffin Matson and Mimi Rader all have something in common.

They are left-handed.

So are Sam Clark, Anna Durso, Carson Chambless and McKay Powers. And faculty members Dr. Nicholas Ercole and Mrs. Susan Lolis also are part of this minority.

Only 10 percent of the population is left handed. This ten percent includes famous people such as Tom Cruise, Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Justin Bieber, and many more. Many very famous athletes are a part of this minority such as Professional golf player and two times Masters champion Bubba Watson, Heisman Winner and professional football quarterback, Tim Tebow, and the NBA’s “most valuable player” James Harden.

At Stratford, there are many left handed students and teachers. Dr. Ercole is left-handed and said he doesn’t really go through many struggles with it. As a kid, he “became very used to being a leftie.”

Edlin St. Vil also is left-handed. “Most everything in this world is made for right-handed people,” he said. “I’m just glad that I adapted quickly.’’

Living in a right-handed world, left-handed people have many challenges with everyday items such as scissors and a computer mouse.

Baseball players, Ben Jamison and Stetson Hatcher, talked about how in baseball, there are certain positions you can’t play if you are left-handed, such as second base, third base, shortstop, and catcher.

Stetson and Ben have adapted quickly and they both are pitchers on the baseball team, sometimes known as “southpaws.”

A southpaw is a left-handed pitcher. The term “southpaw” comes from the practice in baseball of arranging the diamond with the batter facing east to avoid the sun. A left-handed pitcher would face west with his pitching arm facing south of the diamond.