Doctor Sammy Lee

Diver-Two Time Olympic Gold Medallist

“Dear Lane,

I am getting my back one foots on the long line nearly every time with good

posture and glide, but when do I make the change from back two feet crosses

to back one foot crosses?

Regards,

Toes Up’

Bart’”

This is one of the points in your barefoot career that will test your patience and end up yielding some incredible fun. I believe back one-foot slalom to be one of the best feelings in the world! The good news is that what was once something only done by the best and strongest barefooters in the world, is now something that can be learned by anyone who follows my instruction down to the letter! If you are one of those hard core personalities that is willing to overlook short term set-backs in return for long term gain, then I will lead you to the promise land where your own personal miracles are waiting for you. If you are reading this thinking it is easy, then you will be disappointed. We have a tee-shirt that says simply, “We never said it was easy. We just said it was kool.”

There are two ways that I know to go about this. The way I did it, and the way that I now teach my students of excellence to do it! The way that I did it was about a three year process of continual abuse and horrific crashes that kept my chiropractor in business. The way that I would like to help you is proven, methodical, and has worked for a tremendous amount of butt-kicking back one foot shredders!

There are several skills that should be mastered in order to make the transition to back one foot slalom:

#1 learn to do GREAT back toe-holds on both sides of the wake

#2 learn to do back-cut aways on both feet (as described in depth on my instructional video)

#3 learn to do back one-foot slalom on the Puppy Paws

The most important of these as far as priorities go is to learn your back toe-holds perfectly on the boom and then transfer them to the long-line. It is CRITICAL that you learn to do them on both sides of the wake without flying all over the place. Once you learn the back toe-hold correctly, it is quintessential that you learn to ski in the correct position with a very soft knee (on the water) to keep “tracking” straight while in the trick curl. If you are having trouble, learn to use the Puppy Paws while doing this exercise!

While working on this, you will want to learn to cross the wake on Puppy Paws on one foot. This will teach you balance and will point out any weak spots. The key to learning the back-one foot slalom on the Puppy Paws is to keep a good Power-Band, soft knee, good resistance, and then setting your foot on edge. A good way to describe this is to get in a great backwards position, and then picture your head being at the 12 o’clock position with your feet at six o’clock. If  you want to cut to your left, move your head and shoulders around the clock to the two o’clock position and your feet at the eight o’clock position. You will need to do this while “loading up with resistance without deteriorating your Posture and Glide. The key is to create an edge so the your feet are actually on the inside edge of your foot (the ‘pinky-toe’ side of your foot is pushed towards the boat and is out of the water). This is the same edging necessary for a slalom ski.

Once you are getting these other two skills up and running, try cutting away from the wake (while on your feet…or the Puppy Paws, at first) in the same manner as described above. Remember, set your position (Posture and Glide, Power-Band), add your resistance, and then set your edge. One of the biggest mistakes I see at this stage is people try so hard to edge that they allow their feet to go wide. This is counter productive and you must slow down your cross until you are at a pace that does not deteriorate your good position or cause your feet to go wide!

I guarantee that once you have mastered these skills, crossing the wake on one foot will come quickly to you. You will now have mastered all the skills separately that are needed for a good back one foot cross. The biggest mistake that you will make, yes…that means you!, is that you will not take the time to learn the back toes correctly.

What is amazing to me is that this is the same information that I get paid to teach people all over the world and I know that the biggest temptation out there is for skiers to modify what I have already proven to work.

Ask any of my students and they will tell you that I require EXCELLENCE in ALL of the toe-holds both forwards and backwards in order to achieve greatness in their skiing. I look forward to hearing of your individual triumphs in back slalom. Please do not accept mediocrity in your skiing!

TIPS:

#1 Use video analysis!

#2 Use the BEST instructional video on the planet

#3 MASTER BACK TOE HOLDS on BOTH sides of the wake!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#4 POSITION, RESISTANCE, EDGING

Let me know how your skiing goes and do your homework!

Please help me out and forward this to as many footers or even potential footers  as you can. This will help to make this newsletter a BIG success! We want everyone to have a GREAT chance to achieve their own miracles!

If you have any questions, click here to check out our common questions and answers about training personally with Lane Dawg Bowers.

I am available to personally help you achieve your skiing goals by calling  877-685-6270 or visit our website @ https://thefootersedge.com. Feel free to email me personally with any requests that you have and I will try to make time to help you achieve your true potential!