When will we see a paradigm shift in athleticism? Over the last hundred years, there has certainly been an evolution of the competitive athlete. Modern athletes are now bigger, stronger, and faster than ever before???I imagine that athletes from the early 20th century would have a hard time believing some of the things modern athletes can do (picture Joe DiMaggio standing next to Barry Bonds). But when will we see a truly revolutionary shift in athletic mechanics, not just strength and size?
I came across a really interesting new story on NYTimes.com this morning about an ambidextrous college-level pitcher at Creighton University, Pat Venditte. Now this would be a true shift in game mechanics! What if being ambidextrous became more prevalent in competitive sports? Not only would this have an enormous impact on general game mechanics, but it would affect the very strategy of the game???that is, at least, until being ambidextrous became mainstream and effectively eliminated the advantage.
Will a whole generation of new parents start teaching their children to train both arms, rather than just one? Will tennis players some day be able to avoid the dreaded backhand all together? Will golfers be able to switch stances when the lie of their ball necessitates it? Possibly, although I would pity the caddies forced to carry around two sets of golf clubs for an ambidextrous golfer.
The future no doubt holds a great many advancements in the world of sport, some being minimal, and some being revolutionary. It will be interesting to see how athleticism develops over the next 50 years.
Cheers.
-Eric
Note that professional golfers can only carry 14 clubs, and while it is rare because you can invert a wedge and shoot opposite handed, some players do carry one club that is opposite handed just for those sitations.
Note that in soccer, if you can only use one foot then you are only half a soccer player. All the pros use/need two.