Small Rating


Pro Instructor	Lane Bowers
Assistant Instructors	none
Other Assistants	Lane's mom for booking lessons
Max ski time with Pro	100%
Other specialties	Lane teaches Barefooting Only
	2000 RATING	2004 RATING	2012 Rating
1. Upfront Interaction with Pro	4	4	4
Lane is usually quick to return calls, but in many cases, it will be his mom who returns your calls. They'll follow up with informative emails to read before coming to his school and do their best to answer any concerns you may have or help you find accommodations. His automated phone system can be frustrating to deal with.
2. Stresses Safety	5	4.5	5
Lane stresses safety in the boat. None of our students were asked to sign a waiver, but the first thing that he did before we got in the boat was ask if there was any medical conditions that we have that he should know about.
3. Warm-up Routine	5	5	5
Lane was an instructor an Ron Scarpa's before opening The Footer's Edge Training Center. Lane's stretching routine is very similar. Why mess with a good thing?
4. Pro Enthusiasm	4	5	5
Lane is always very positive and upbeat with his students.
5. Availability of smooth Water	3	4	4
Unless the wind is calm all day, expect to ski in rougher water in the afternoons. Being that they ski on lakes, the runs are shorter and require the driver to turn more often. If you normally ski on rivers, you will not be 100% satisfied with the short runs, but you'll get lots of them. Lane made a concerted effort to find calm water for his students.
6. Teaching Technique	3	4.5	4.5
Lane has built his reputation on talking your ear off about "Posture and Glide". He is 100% convinced he has the best teaching technique. If you are a seasoned footer, adapting to Lane's teaching technique may be a bit frustrating. Lane really stresses baby steps. He notices the little things that you are doing wrong and tells you how to fix it. He goes over every step while you’re in the boat and then has you demonstrate them while you are in the water. He usually uses the Head Zone helmets to communicate with the students.
7. Does pro ski for you	3.5	2.5	2.5
When asked if he would ski, Lane replied that he only skis if he trusts one of his students to drive. Our judges asked him several times over 3 days, but we were not successful. Lane is in the same position as all the other coaches. He can't afford to get injured, and liability insurance is escalating year over year. Lane has plenty of videos of himself skiing on his website.
8. Informative on phone	3.5	4	3.5
Odds are, you won't talk to Lane himself if you call unless you are determined to do so. He utilizes an automated message system that gives you plenty of information about the school, his teaching philosophy, and all his guarantees. We lost count on how many times he uses the word "guarantee" about his teaching and products he sells. The automated message asks you to leave your name and they’ll get back to you as soon as possible and that’s exactly how it goes. His mom calls you back right away. All of our students made comments about how frustrating his automated message system is. Lane's mom is helping him book lessons and was a pleasure to deal with, but she's not the one we're training with. We lowered the score in this category because Lane has never addressed this issue and we still see the same frustrations.
9. Pro Shop	3	3	3
Lane sells BI gear through his ski school. He doesn't have a formal pro shop, but does have an on-line website and sells BI products.
10. Boat Cleanliness	5	5	5
Lane keeps boat extremely clean and neat. Our judges were impressed that his 5 year old boat still looked new. Lane made us all rinse off our feet and sandals before we got in the boat. His boat is very organized. After we took the boat out of the water he rubbed it down with towels to keep it clean.
11. Web Site	1	3.5	3
Lane has a lot of information on his website, but in order to have access to his site, you must first sign up for his eBook. You then begin receiving emails from Lane's spam style database about his teaching philosophy and ski school. Getting off his email can be next to impossible. Lane's web tactics can be described as the "Ginsu Knife Sale on QVC" style of selling. Everything is over the top. He Guarantees you'll be the best footer on your lake, guarantees he'll buy product back if you don't like it, claims he has the best booms when they are just like every other boom, claims he has the very best instruction, etc etc... Lane likes the over-the-top sales strategy. He's gone as far as using Ron Scarpa's name to promote his site. He registered the domain ronsscarpa.com and even tries to get people to believe he's really Barefoot International by registering bare-foot-international.com, and bare-foot-boom.com. He doesn't seem to be worried about his reputation among his peers when it comes to making a sale. But, if you can weed through all the over-zealous propaganda, Lane does supply a lot of good information on his website. Our only advice is Be Warned. If you buy into the hype, you'll be inundated with spam style emails for many months. We're lowering Lane's score because of his continued desire to annoy everyone with his sales strategy and continued desire to alienate himself from hiis peers in the sport.
12. Was the instructor on time	4	5	5
Lane has a reputation for being right on-time to pick students up at the Best Western in the morning.
13. Time Management on the water	3	4.5	5
Lane keeps the pace going in the boat. On several occasions, we had 5 skiers in the boat and all at different levels of barefooting. He had all of us go at least 2 sets in the morning and afternoon. Lane's been teaching for a long time and knows how to manage the water time.
14. Wake on Boat	4	4	. 5
Lane uses an Outboard Flightcraft. It has a very smooth, well defined, and consistent wake. He also utilizes the use of the BI Super Fly-High. Lane's wakes will be similar to Scarpa's since they run the same boats.
15. Does the school carry the right type and amount of Ski School Insurance			1
After several attempts, we were unable to obtain this information from the Footer's Edge Ski School. We advise that you verify his coverage before attending the school.
Total Possible Points	75	80	76
Total Points Received	55	68	60.5
Overall Rating	(3.67)	(4.25)	(4.03)
In Summary: Lane continues to score very well in our reviews. He's very enthusiastic, and has a wealth of knowledge he shares with his students. His only down side is his over zealous sales strategy. Guarantees of success, money-back guarantees, promises of secrets that no other instructor knows, etc etc.... It's a strategy that has worked well for Lane from a business standpoint attracting new students. His students tend to be total new comers to the sport. Lane's refusal to inform us of his insurance coverage concerns us. If you remove the sales gimmicks & promises, Lane is a solid barefoot instructor. He's one of the best barefooters on the planet and has developed a teaching technique that works anybody. He is a thinker and does his best to understand If you have a son or daughter getting into the sport, Lane is one of the instructors you should send them to in their never ending search for new skills.