Left eyed dominate right handed child ?

[LV2HUNT]

I am left handed but right eye dominant and have always shot everything right handed with no issues.

[longbowben]

My son had the same problem he switched to left handed and he shoots great.

[bow_man_66]

I have had the same problems with a couple of my kids. My oldest son is right handed, left eye dominant. At a young age I let him shoot both ways with a double shelf fiberglass recurve. As he got older he realized he shot better left handed. Now he has learned to shoot either way, he just squints his left eye slightly when shooting right handed and the right eye takes over. My other son is a lefty but right eye dominant. He tried both ways also and settled into right handed shooting. I also have twin girls, one right and one left eye dominant. I am doing the same with each of them, they will decide on their own what feels right. The advantage is they learn both ways. Like allot of them have already said, keep it fun and let them shoot, it will all work out in the end.

Shoot straight!!!!

[JParanee]

Thanks guys

I have ordered some left handed bows I will let her decide

Really appreciate all the input guys

[Covey]

I use to shoot with a guy that was left handed, right eye dominate. I kid you not he was the best shot I've ever seen. He could shoot 40 yards like I shot 20. It absolutely had no affect on him whatsoever. He shot split finger, instinctive. Let her choose and have fun! 8^)

Good shooting, Jason

[TonyW]

Being left eye dominant and right handed made me work harder as an archer.

But hitting a baseball? Man, what an advantage to hit righty and see the ball without looking around your nose! A cross dominant batter can zing 'em at any hole in the field.

[Autumnarcher]

Come on now Ben, you know he switched just so he could shoot all your MOABS.  

[Autumnarcher]

The following is quoted from "Instinctive Archery Insights" by Jay Kidwell. this ook is excellent reading for instinctive archers. this theory may not apply to other disciplines, but for the instinctive archer, its spot on.

"...The inference then would be that the dominant eye should be directly above the arrow, thus allowing for more accurate horizontal( windage) adjustments. .....there is no evidence that suggests that we should change our shooting style if we find that the wrong eye is dominant.

In theory, a right dominant eye for a RH shooter will allow the dominant eye to align itself directly over the arrow thus providing a clearer sight picture in the peripheral vision of the arrow aligned with the target.

In reality, very few instinctive archers actually align their dominant eye directly over the arrow. A quick look at your favorite videos,magazines etc will prove this point.

Some of the fundamental charactoristics of insteinctive archery serve to explain why the dominant eye has little or no bearing when shooting with the instinctive method. When aiming instinctively we try to concentrate completely on the target.We cannot focus on the target completely, and on the relationship of the arrow to our eye and the target. If you are aiming using the arrow as a reference point, then you are not shooting instinctively.

It is true that the dominant eye doiminates our sight picture in our primary field of vision( where you are focusing) and at closer distances. It loses much of its dominance in our secondar field of vision(peripheral) and at greater dstances.

...with instinctive shooting we cant (tilt) the bow and our head. A target archer that holds the bow straight up and down keeps his his head straight and can place his eye directly aboe the arrow. When we cant the bow however, it places the arrow between both eyes. When you cant the bow, a number of other changes must necessarily occur in order. When you cant the bow, the string also naturally must cant. A canted string causes a canted anchor. To keep your anchor consistent, you must cant your head. Therefore, as you leave the perfect vertical alignment...that the target archer strives for....the arrow moves away from your dominant eye and falls somewhere in between both eyes until finally in ends up under the opposite eye with extreme canting of the bow. Try it for yourself. Look inthe mirror and draw your ow with an arrow and hold it at full draw in a vertical position. The arrow will line up dirctly under  your eye. Now cant the bow. Notice how your head must tilt to correctly anchor and that the arrow now falls directly under and between both eyes in its vertical position.

Which eye is dominant with you? It doesnt matter."

[PArcher]

Just get her started and into it. If down the road a ways she seems to have a little consistency issue, try switching her to lefty again. I shot for almost ten years before I switched because of the same issue and now shoot a whole lot better!

[instinctivebowman]

Im no shooting expert but i have some experience with being backwards. Thats a young age to start making corrections, you may run the risk of taking the fun out of it,  but if a person wants to reach their best possible potential, you should probably be shooting with the natural visual ability given to you. I am left handed and right eye dominent and i shoot right handed with both eyes open. It "feels" good and natural to shoot left handed but the visual connection to that tiny target is at the wrong angle for me. Human possibility can overcome that thuogh i have been outshot with by several people that shoot that way. If i can remember the quote corectly, Lee Trevino pga golfer with a long winning career,  had a sort of "different" swing. Someone asked him one time why he didnt have a swing coach and he replied i havent met a coach that can beat me, if i do i will take a lesson. So if she shoots good and likes it, then thats a tuogh one. Good luck and let us know how it goes. I have an 8 year old and a 2 year old. Im sure i will be dealing with the same problem

[Al33]

Originally posted by Autumnarcher:
Which eye is dominant with you? It doesnt matter."

Kidwell makes good sense to me.

I am right handed but left eye dominant. I shoot lefty and have done so all my life. I am completely blind in my right eye but I can still shoot a bow right handed, not nearly as well as I can left handed, but I believe I could do well shooting righty if I practiced it more. When I do shoot righty I do lean into the canted bow a good bit and can hit that way which supports Tidwell's theory.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I had a funny realization about eye dominance myself just recently. I'm left eye dominant and shoot right handed, and found i could shoot left hand fairly well to, but everything else about it was foreign shooting left. i had most my problems trying to use a gap system correlating the arrow tip.... once i gave that up and just concentrated on the spot i wanted to hit, no more problems with windage..... the realization i'm talking about though is that even though my dominance is left eye, the vision in my right eye is considerably better. I'll bet i have 30 /20 vision going. so when i focus real hard on a spot it i see the spot clearer with my right eye. after realizing this, i shifted my anchor point to the tip of my nose, and found i could use my arrow tip again for a reference at down range targets again....   funny eh?

[Jim now in Kentucky]

I learned to shoot a slingshot left handed. I'm right handed and didn't know any better. I was a very good shost.

I shoot bows and guns right handed and am right-eye dominant.

I developed a cataract in my right eye over the last two years. My vision in that eye is now 20/100, or worse--I think that's  as far as the scale goes.

Pick a spot? With my right eye, there are no spots, just big blobs. So, I'm shooting right handed and my right eye is just short of useless.

Guess what. I'm shooting better than ever because I have to take my time and be disciplined about my shots. By the way, one day last summer I shot 8 carpenter bees out of the air with a BB gun, shooting right handed. (As a teenager, I could shoot tossed aspirins with a BB gun.)

I submit that eye dominance and anchor point are both irrelevant to shooters who don't use the arrow as a reference.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Jim

[YORNOC]

Originally posted by Autumnarcher:
The following is quoted from "Instinctive Archery Insights" by Jay Kidwell. this ook is excellent reading for instinctive archers. this theory may not apply to other disciplines, but for the instinctive archer, its spot on.

"...The inference then would be that the dominant eye should be directly above the arrow, thus allowing for more accurate horizontal( windage) adjustments. .....there is no evidence that suggests that we should change our shooting style if we find that the wrong eye is dominant.

In theory, a right dominant eye for a RH shooter will allow the dominant eye to align itself directly over the arrow thus providing a clearer sight picture in the peripheral vision of the arrow aligned with the target.

In reality, very few instinctive archers actually align their dominant eye directly over the arrow. A quick look at your favorite videos,magazines etc will prove this point.

Some of the fundamental charactoristics of insteinctive archery serve to explain why the dominant eye has little or no bearing when shooting with the instinctive method. When aiming instinctively we try to concentrate completely on the target.We cannot focus on the target completely, and on the relationship of the arrow to our eye and the target. If you are aiming using the arrow as a reference point, then you are not shooting instinctively.

It is true that the dominant eye doiminates our sight picture in our primary field of vision( where you are focusing) and at closer distances. It loses much of its dominance in our secondar field of vision(peripheral) and at greater dstances.

...with instinctive shooting we cant (tilt) the bow and our head. A target archer that holds the bow straight up and down keeps his his head straight and can place his eye directly aboe the arrow. When we cant the bow however, it places the arrow between both eyes. When you cant the bow, a number of other changes must necessarily occur in order. When you cant the bow, the string also naturally must cant. A canted string causes a canted anchor. To keep your anchor consistent, you must cant your head. Therefore, as you leave the perfect vertical alignment...that the target archer strives for....the arrow moves away from your dominant eye and falls somewhere in between both eyes until finally in ends up under the opposite eye with extreme canting of the bow. Try it for yourself. Look inthe mirror and draw your ow with an arrow and hold it at full draw in a vertical position. The arrow will line up dirctly under  your eye. Now cant the bow. Notice how your head must tilt to correctly anchor and that the arrow now falls directly under and between both eyes in its vertical position.

Which eye is dominant with you? It doesnt matter."

Good read, I liked it.
  With developing kids ...it matters. Different mechanics.  Just what I was taught by an Olympic archery coach , take it or leave it.

[instinctivebowman]

good point jim, i would add that if you only have one eye then that is your dominant eye.

another point is this, unless your nose and head are pointed directly to your target( where both your eyes have exactly the same angle just from opposite sides)  which doesnt happen because you cant shoot like that, Then doesnt one eye have "better"  view off the target? and if so wouldnt you want your dominant eye to have that advantage? Im just asking, and willing to be corrected if need be. I just  havnt heard an example of dominant eye not mattering that made sense( to me)
jeremy

[Smithhammer]

I can't say that one of my eyes has a 'better' view than the other of the target, as long as they are both open, and I'm focused on the target instead of the arrow.

[instinctivebowman]

thats a hard sell, and each side has some very good points. I really want the right answer when it comes time for my kids to shoot.  I wonder if there is an eye dr on trad gang. maybe they can cast their opinion?

[kenn1320]

I shot right handed for 31yrs. I took up trad about 4yrs ago and loved it. I did fairly well, but occasionally had some flyers. I knew I was left eye dominate and tried a lefty bow at league one night. My first shot, I couldn't drop the string. It was funny to say the least. I managed to get a few shots off and my form was so bad, the feathers were hitting my hand and the bow sounded like it was being dry fired. People were staring it was so loud. In just a few arrows I shot just as well at 10yds as I did right handed with 3yrs of constant practice. I now shoot left only and do much better then I ever did right handed.
 For those of you who say it doesn't matter, try switching. lol The way I see it, I have many more years of shooting, cause I'm effectively starting over with a new shoulder. 8^)
 As for the original posters situation, let her do it her way for now. Others are right, keep it fun or she will quit. My kids tend to loose interest easily, doesn't help when I'm reminding them "how they should do it". I wanted them to start out with the proper form, but found the more I tried to help, the less fun it was for them. Let her do it her way for now, as I have found and many others have commented, switching to the dominate eye side is easy. The hardest part of switching is getting over the awkwardness of knocking an arrow and pulling arrows out of the target.

[instinctivebowman]

well said kenn about if you dont think it matters try switching, i was in a bow clinic a few years ago and the instructor had  2 people in the clinic that shot with non dominant eye. he insisted they at least try to shoot dominate, with some resistence they both tried and to my knowledge they still havnt gone back to the non dominate eye