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!
Even more problematic, we coaches have a funny way of making things more difficult than necessary…
The Giants clearly prioritized culture over talent when they traded away one of the most talented players in the league earlier this year. They also went with culture with their #6 pick in the draft. Not to say that Daniel Jones is not talented, but he is most definitely the best cultural fit of this year’s QB choices due to his relationship with the Mannings.
It was a great day at the 18th Annual Alercio OLine Clinic. 200 offensive linemen, representing schools from all over New Jersey and three boroughs of New York, learned and trained OLine Skills under blue skies with 60-degree weather and great facilities at the Hun School. Personally, I had the opportunity to reconnect with three former high school teammates and a half a dozen former players from West Chester University, Trenton State, The College of New Jersey and Castleton State. Perhaps the best part of the day came after my 6-hour ride home. I received the following text from the mother of a player who attended:
On Sunday March 24, the Hun School of Princeton will host the 18th annual Alercio OLine Clinic. For almost two decades, we have taught over 5,000 players from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland the techniques and skills of offensive line play. We will welcome perennial state powers who bring dozens of players every year as well as individual players who come all by themselves representing some of the smallest schools in the region. We also open the clinic to any coach at no cost. 
O Line Skills 