TITLE:
The Examination of the Relationship between Left-Handedness and Success in Elite Female Archers
AUTHORS:
Recep Gursoy, Suleyman Sahin, Mehmet Dalli, Kursat Hazar, Eser Aggon
KEYWORDS:
Hand Preference, Archer, Sports
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Physical Education,
Vol.7 No.4,
September
29,
2017
ABSTRACT: Objective: This research was carried out in order to determine
the hand and eye dominance (left-hand dominant or right-hand dominant) of the
women participating in Turkish senior women’s archery championship and to find
out whether there were any differences among the scores gained by the archers
as general total and at the end of their 1st and 2nd 50-m
target-based shootings when using compound bow. Method: 44 elite-level women
archers under the Turkish Federation of Archery participated in the research.
We determined the hand dominance and eye dominance of all participants. To
determine hand and eye dominance, participants completed the Edinburgh
Handedness Inventory-Short Form. According to that, 5 of the archers were
left-hand dominant whereas 39 of them were right-hand dominant. A mini survey
form was used in order to determine certain bio-motor (age, height, weight and
sports age) characteristics of the archers. Results: Laterality might be
one of the most significant factors for the archers to become successful. Thus, considering that left-hand dominant archers might
gain competitive edge in the archer selection process, these archers can be
considered to be advantageous for being selected. Sportive success can be enhanced if trainers attach a particular importance to and
support these archers and if they consider this situation particularly during
target-based shooting trainings. Furthermore, taking into consideration that left-hand dominant
persons are more successful that right-hand dominant persons in certain sports
branches, it can be said that, such persons must not be forced to use their right
hand.