Much like writing, skateboarding can be done in two main ways: left dominant or right dominant. This is also known as goofy or regular.
Goofy skateboarding is how I ride, which is where the left foot pushes and gets placed on the tail of the board when preparing for tricks. Regular skating is where the right foot pushes and is placed on the tail for tricks.
There are no real advantages or disadvantages to each skating style, though some skaters have made claims that goofy skating looks “cleaner.”
The origin of the title “goofy” stems from a 1937 Disney cartoon that features the character Goofy riding a surfboard with his left foot on the tail. This term was adopted by surfers and then transitioned over to skateboarding when it became the more popular form of board riding in California in the 1980’s.
Overall, lefty in writing terms, southpaw in boxing terms, and goofy in skateboarding terms, are just fancy titles to categorize those who are left-dominant in these activities.