Making Unnatural Feel Natural
I have never believed in the saying “Weak Hand”. I call it Non-dominant or Unnatural. The reason being is paintball guns are easy to shoot with both hands, they are electronic activated trigger pulls, they are held stable with both arms, and they are no longer heavy metal bricks!
However growing up and playing during the time of mechanical guns, heavy solid framed guns, and side fed guns, I was forced to learn how to use my Non-dominate hand quicker than those who are newer to paintball.
The way to make any Unnatural feeling feel natural is by repetition. However, while watching divisional paintball matches or up and coming players who still play a lot, I notice they push harder down the field when they are using their Dominate hand, or they are more comfortable diving, or they will initiate more gun battles rather than when they are forced to use their Non-Dominate hand.
These are a few simple things I did to make using my left hand feel as natural as possible and it goes much further than just playing paintball left-handed more.
**I took an entire week and did everything left-handed (My non-dominate hand).
- I ate left-handed.
- I carried things in my left hand.
- I used my phone with my left hand (buy a phone case prior).
- I used my left hand for the remote control, etc..**
When I went out and played that weekend, I used both days and played 100% left-handed. Even if I was shooting out of the right side of my bunker I did it cross-body.
***I even created a game with my friend called “Shenanigans”. If either of us saw the other person even carrying their gun in their dominant hand, on or off the field, we would yell out “Shenanigans” and they would immediately have to drop and do 30 push-ups geared up or not.***
After doing this it’s only instinct for your Non-Dominate hand to feel more natural than before. So when you have a week with some extra free time (You’ll need it) and practice or a walk on day, give it a shot. It’s fun and will make a huge difference in your game. I now shoot real guns both handed, play pool with both hands, bowl with both hands, play golf with both hands, and have a much better shot with my non-dominate hand because I am left eye dominant.
