Today marks my 100th Blog Post on OLineskills.com. Hard to believe when I started this experiment 2.5 years ago it would turn into such a wonderful dialogue with players, parents, faculty, community members, and other coaches. I believe coaching is a privilege and as I’ve stated before, my efforts have, and continue to be an endeavor to pay forward all the investments others have made in me. I’m convinced getting the culture of a team right is a prerequisite for success and a coach’s primary responsibility. It’s been great to share such perspectives with all of you, and in keeping with the theme of culture and communication, let’s get on to the meat of our 100th conversation. Whether this is your 100th blog post, or your 1st, thanks for taking the time to join me on this journey.
The culture of our football program is built on the philosophy that games are not won on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons in the Fall. Games are won with the work done from January through July with the lion’s share of the work in June and July. 
If you want better participation numbers for your summer organized team activities (OTAs), be sure to create a calendar and get it into the hands of your players and their parents as soon as possible. We distributed ours on Friday of last week. With family vacations, other sports travel teams and everything else kids can do these days, we need them to know in advance when and where they need to be.
Our summer calendar includes the days and times of our OTAs, 7v7 tournaments, Strongman competitions, and camps. We include reminders to update their physicals and the closing date of our online team store so that they have their shorts and tees ready for training camp. We also include the date of our Meet the Coaches parent meeting. More to come on that in a future blog. Scrimmage dates and our first game are also listed. Most importantly, we intentionally schedule weeks where we have no OTAs. Players are on their own the weeks of June 3, July 29 and August 5. Those are the weeks we encourage our families to take their vacations.
If you want your kids to participate and your parents to buy into your program, open the lines of communication and give them the information they need so that they give you what you need…their kids with you Monday, Wednesday and Fridays through the summer. Culture begins with (and is underpinned by) communication of standards and expectations. If we share common goals, common awareness, and a common vision of success, we can make consistent decisions for the team’s best interests. (Save the surprises for opponents!)
Coach Rich Alercio is available to discuss coaching philosophy, X’s & O’s, or teach his O-Line “techniques in the trenches.” Contact Coach at richalercio@gmail.com and share http://www.olineskills.com with your colleagues and friends.
Thanks for supporting this blog and joining our conversations over these 100 blog posts, and as always, thanks for your time!
O Line Skills 