Laterality and Performance in Combat Sports
REVIEW ARTICLE Laterality and performance in combat sports 1ABCD 1ABCD 2BD Authors’ Contribution: Xurxo Dopico-Calvo , Eliseo Iglesias-Soler , Luis Morenilla , A Study Design Manuel A Giráldez1BD, Luis Santos3BD, Antonio Ardá4BD B Data Collection C Statistical Analysis 1 Performance and Health Group (PH-G), Departamento de Educación Física e Deportiva, Facultade de Ciencias do D Manuscript Preparation Deporte e a Educación Física, Universidade da Coruña, A Coruña, Spain E Funds Collection 2 Grupo de aprendizaxe e control do movemento humano en actividade física e deporte (ACoM), Departamento de Educación Física e Deportiva, Facultade de Ciencias do Deporte e a Educación Física, Universidade da Coruña, A Coruña, Spain 3 University School of Sports Medicine, University of Oviedo, Spain 4 Unidade de Análise e avaliación das capacidade motrices e conductuais no deporte. Departamento de Educación Física e Deportiva, Facultade de Ciencias do Deporte e a Educación Física, Universidade da Coruña, A Coruña, Spain Received: 29 October 2016; Accepted: 25 April 2016; Published online: 30 June 2016 AoBID: 11230 Abstract Literature has shown a relationship between laterality and an over-representation of left-handed athletes in certain sports, and especially in sports one against one, such as judo, tennis, boxing or fencing; the main ex- planation has been attributed to greater chance of success. Some authors have explained it through a genetic or innate superiority hypothesis, however others defend the strategic advantage hypothesis. The study aim is an overview about laterality, sporting success, over-representation of left-dominant athletes executing techniques, and the possibility of modulating that over-representation through training and based on negative frequency-dependent selection hypothesis, given that in sports such as fencing, boxing or judo, tacti- cal designs and training actions have been developed based on the opponent’s predominant side while execut- ing skills.
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