When you pick up a pen to write your first words on a sheet of paper, or when you kick the ball for the first time, you unconsciously do it with your strong side: either the right side, which is much more common, or the left one. There are a series of scientific factors that lead an individual to be left-handed, such as a genetic predisposition that is still largely mysterious, a different organization of the cerebral hemispheres – with the right, rather than the left, often the protagonist in the control of language and movements – and even some influences linked to prenatal life, which already in the maternal womb seem to orient the preference towards one side rather than the other
Left-handed people, as we know them in sports, very often have that extra touch that makes them do extraordinary things. It applies to Lionel Messi, who at 39 years old (!) is painting football on the canvas of the stadiums of the Americas with his fairy foot, was worth Diego Armando Maradonaan Argentine hero who, with the technique of his left foot, made all those who live in the shadow of Vesuvius fall in love with football.
But not just football: left-handed players have also written indelible pages of history in tennis. Anyone who has had the fortune and opportunity to admire it knows this well John MC Enroe write history on the Wimbledon center with his racket firmly in his left hand. Or more recently who admired Philippe-Chatrier on the Court Rafa Nadal winning Roland Garros 14 times thanks to his delightful left-handedness.
The charm of the left-handed player does not end on the red clay fields and green meadows: even the parquet has paid homage to this predestined breed. Just think about Chris Paul, the “Point God” who provided surgical assists with his left hand for twenty years in the NBA, or Bill Russella gentle giant from Boston who with that hand built an empire made of eleven rings.
Changing rings, it is impossible not to bow before Manny Pacquiaothe Filipino “Pac-Man” who made his left-handed guard, the classic southpaw posture, a nightmare for anyone who stood in front of him: eight world titles in as many weight categories, a record that we will hardly see repeated, written with the sound of left hooks capable of turning off the opponents’ lights in a fraction of a second.
And finally fencing, where Italy was lucky enough to include among its ranks Valentina Vezzalia thoroughbred left-hander capable of dominating world foil for almost two decades, transforming every attack into a lesson in timing and instinct, qualities which – not surprisingly – seem to belong almost by birthright to those who challenge with the left
