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My son is a righty but learned cartwheels by mirror-imaging my daughter so he does cartwheels and all tumbling lefty.
I was a gymnastics coach, and there never seemed to be any correlation between being right-handed and tumbling right, and vice versa. More people do cartwheels etc. right overall, but I myself am right-handed and tumble left.
My son the lefty is career Army. His guns are specially made for lefties. There's another factor in shooting called eye dominance. If youre right handed and right eye dominant, good. If you're left handed and left eye dominant, good. But if you're cross dominant then it's something that makes marksmanship harder.
I was a gymnastics coach, and there never seemed to be any correlation between being right-handed and tumbling right, and vice versa. More people do cartwheels etc. right overall, but I myself am right-handed and tumble left.
Where my daughter is currently doing gymnastics, out of the 7 athletes, she is the only one who didn't start out there and the only one who does them right-handed. Can a coach influence the way kids initially learn them? And how does it not feel awkward? I have never seen so many left-handed tumblers until this gym.
My husband is left-handed. All three of our kids are righties. No, no one tried to influence them one way or the other. I was always curious to see if any of them would turn out to be left-handed, but they were obviously not from an early age. I don't think most parents would even think of trying to influence their children in handedness any more.
My sister, born in 1950, was the only one among us seven kids who was left-handed. My parents actually went to her classroom in kindergarten and first grade to tell the teachers, "Becky is left-handed, and we like her that way. Please don't try to make her right-handed." Back in those days, that's what you had to do because there were still some people (both parents and teachers) who tried to force kids to be left-handed. It was a terrible idea and just messed people up.
I suspect I was a lefty. Born in the late forties and I remember getting into trouble at the dinner table for eating with the "wrong" hand. My father was either determined that I was going to be normal or thought I was just being stubborn. He wasn't a mean or unkind person.
I was/am dyslectic, can read backwards and foreward and up and down almost equally well. I had problems with left and right until my first heart attack. Now I am most always aware of my heart and I know its on the left. Looking in a mirror or at a photograph still gives me pause.
I function as a right handed person. " Messed up" would be a matter of opinion
Where my daughter is currently doing gymnastics, out of the 7 athletes, she is the only one who didn't start out there and the only one who does them right-handed. Can a coach influence the way kids initially learn them? And how does it not feel awkward? I have never seen so many left-handed tumblers until this gym.
This was kind of what I tried to say originally. I think the first time you learn something, it is equally awkward, so when I learned to bat a ball in the school yard, right handed, I learned to bat that way, just as well as I could have left handed.
I'm not called upon to bat much anymore, but I still would do it right handed to this day.
Where my daughter is currently doing gymnastics, out of the 7 athletes, she is the only one who didn't start out there and the only one who does them right-handed. Can a coach influence the way kids initially learn them? And how does it not feel awkward? I have never seen so many left-handed tumblers until this gym.
Yes, I also suspect that some coaches like everyone to tumble on the same side because it is easier for them (they don't have to keep switching sides to spot). I personally always let the kids decide for themselves. Definitely, if someone came into the gym already doing cartwheels on their left side, I never asked them to change, any more than I'd ask a left-handed person to switch hands.
If you observe elite gymnasts carefully, you'll see that some tumble left and some right. I recall that the well-known gymnast Shannon Miller was a left.
It doesn't feel awkward to tumble left if it's natural for you!
I suspect I was a lefty. Born in the late forties and I remember getting into trouble at the dinner table for eating with the "wrong" hand. My father was either determined that I was going to be normal or thought I was just being stubborn. He wasn't a mean or unkind person.
I was/am dyslectic, can read backwards and foreward and up and down almost equally well. I had problems with left and right until my first heart attack. Now I am most always aware of my heart and I know its on the left. Looking in a mirror or at a photograph still gives me pause.
I function as a right handed person. " Messed up" would be a matter of opinion
Nothing personal intended. But children who are forced to become right-handed often do develop learning difficulties and other problems, because they are being made to use the non-dominant side of their brain.
By the way, I can see in my post that you quoted that I made a mistake...I meant to say teachers forced kids to be right-handed, not left, of course.
Absolutely not. I don't want to encourage handedness issues one way or the other and mess up handwriting development in the kids. I just watch carefully for side preference and we go from there
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But children who are forced to become right-handed often do develop learning difficulties and other problems, because they are being made to use the non-dominant side of their brain. 
