O Line Skills

I am honored to share that I have been named the head coach of the Vermont team in the 67^th Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl Game.  The annual Vermont vs New Hampshire All-Star Football Game will be played on August 1, 2020. I’m humbled by the selection and will work diligently to be worthy of the committee’s trust and confidence.

Our goal, as a staff, will be to provide a fun experience allowing coaches and players to create memories and forge relationships lasting far longer than our short time together.  The week will also allow us to raise awareness for Shriners Hospitals for Children, and the care they give to children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate, regardless of the family’s ability to pay.

The Vermont team will be selected this weekend by a selection committee comprised of myself and coaches representing each of our state’s three divisions.  The 38-man roster will consist of twenty Division 1, twelve Division 2 and six Division 3 players.  The evaluation process has allowed me to lean on the more than 20 years of experience analyzing player video as a college coach during the recruiting season.  While size, speed, strength and skill set are important, we will also look for players who compete with great energy, effort, and enthusiasm.  Whittling the 78 players nominated down to 38 will not be an easy process, but I look forward to meeting with my colleagues and working collaboratively to build Vermont’s 2020 Shrine Football Team.

More to follow this summer as we bring these “all-stars” together and forge a team on a compressed schedule while preparing to compete and win against what have been traditionally talented opponents from New Hampshire.

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, and as always, thanks for your time!

As you look back on 2019, and evaluate your year in order to set your resolution for 2020, consider a desired outcome you would like to achieve then turn your focus on the process to get you there.  In other words, be process-oriented in your goal setting for the new year rather than result-oriented.  The most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight/get fit.  That is a desired outcome, not a goal.  Make your resolution a process-oriented goal.  For example, get up 1 hour earlier every morning to start each day with exercise.

The philosophy of our football program at St Johnsbury Academy is “games are not won on weekends in the fall”.  Winning football games is a desired outcome.  The 10 wins we recorded this season are all the result of the work we did from January through August in athletic performance training as well as the work we do Monday through Friday during the entire season.

Everyone wants to be successful with their New Year’s resolution just like every coach wants to be successful on game day.  Focus on the path rather than the destination to achieve your goal for 2020.

Good luck and Happy New Year!

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, and as always, thanks for your time!

 “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”  That was the message shared by motivational speaker Zig Ziglar when I had the good fortune of hearing him speak during a football coaches convention.  He also shared the proverb, “the hand that gives gathers.”

In Galatians, we read “you reap what you sow.”  In Ecclesiastes, “send your grain across the seas and in time profits will flow back to you.”  This time of year, parents often tell their children, “it is better to give than receive.”  This is the season of giving, but to truly be successful, embrace a life of investing in others long after the Holidays have passed.  Be a servant leader.

Servant leaders make sure those in their care have everything they need to flourish. They give of themselves, investing in others and paying forward the investments made by coaches, teachers, and mentors who cared enough to recognize potential and fan a spark into a flame.

As we reflect on 2019 and look ahead to the New Year, take stock of things done well, and things we could do better…

Be the leader you would hope for, and those you lead will achieve more than you can imagine.

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, and as always, thanks for your time!

As we close the 2019, football season and meet individually with each player, one question we always ask is what sport they are playing in the winter and/or spring.  We encourage all our football players to be multiple sport athletes, especially our freshmen and sophomores who are still developing as athletes and members of our campus community.

I recently saw a social media post stating that Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott, and Christian McCaffrey were all 3-sport athletes in high school.  They seem to be doing very well for themselves…

While I understand the thinking behind specializing in one sport, I believe there is much more to gain (mentally, physically and emotionally) by staying a multi-sport athlete.   Participating on multiple teams helps students expand their social circles and increases opportunities for social interaction.  It also diminishes the opportunity for emotional burn-out caused by playing one sport year-round.

Variety is the spice of life.

There is also a great deal of pressure to succeed for the one-sport athlete who has invested so much time, and often money, into success in that sport.  Playing multiple sports also allows athletes to experience different roles.  The star in one sport may be a bench player in the other.  That experience may make the athlete a better competitor and will most certainly be a lesson in humility.

As for the physical benefits, growing bodies are often stressed by repetitive physical activity and often experience injuries that might be avoided by granting their bodies a break from repetitive movements associated with only one sport.  There are way too many young girls with ACL injuries and young boys getting “Tommy John” surgery.

Lastly, there is a financial benefit to families.  Participation in multiple sports at the high school level comes with little to no cost to the family.  The year-round, single-sport athlete, who must play on clubs and travel teams, can add thousands of dollars in financial burden to their family.  Encourage the multiple sport athlete at the high school.  The price is right and so are the benefits.

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, and as always, thanks for your time!

At this week’s Vermont Interscholastic Football League coaches meeting, St Johnsbury Academy proudly accepted the VIFL Division I Championship Trophy.  It is a rotating trophy presented annually to the team that wins the regular season and earns the #1 seed in the state.  Regrettably, we did not win the state championship trophy.  While trophies and championships are the most obvious goal for most coaches, the true rewards of coaching are the impact we have on the lives of our players.  For all the players and parents both past and present who have recently reached out to me with kind words regarding the influence I had on them or their children, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The highlight came from a parent from another school whose daughter I got to know while I was coaching girls golf for the Academy in the Spring of 2014.  It reads: “You probably don’t hear this from many parents from other schools, but my family and I are forever grateful for the respect and support you showed (our daughter) when she was an insecure freshman.  Thanks for all you did, do and will do.”

Seasons come and go… Wins are great… Trophies are nice… But a friend of mine’s grandfather used to say, “There’s no luggage rack on a hearse.” If we are to leave a legacy of enduring value, it’s in the hearts and minds of those we serve. To have just such an opportunity is the real privilege of being a coach.

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, and as always, thanks for your time!

Our win over Essex in the state semi-finals brings us to our fourth state championship appearance in the past six years, and our third in the past four.  Interestingly, each of the four starting Quarterbacks during my tenure at STJ Academy has taken us to a state championship game:  Colton Hudson 2014, Collin Urie 2016, Jake Cady 2017, and Trey Alercio 2019.

When my sons began playing sports, a coaching mentor of mine shared a quote with me, “when you are your son’s football coach, you are the two most important people in his life.”  While I believe that my wife plays a more important role in their lives, I can see how a teenage boy might see things as my mentor described.  I recall the important roles my coaches played in my life and recognize I may play a similarly important role as a football coach and, at times, a surrogate father.

As a college coach, when addressing parents before they left their sons on the first day of training camp, I would let them know that over the next four years I would spend more time with their sons than they likely would and unfortunately, more just as likely, time with them than with my own sons.

The opportunity to come to St Johnsbury Academy, coach these great kids as well as coach two of my three sons, and share the journey to multiple state championship games has been an extraordinary blessing.

After 18 years of baseball and/or football coaching my kids, Saturday marks the last time I will coach one of my sons in an organized sport… time flies.

Each year as the season closes, natural transitions take place. I’m proud of all my sons. They are young men of good character and while sad to see this chapter close, I look forward to the many years to come and opportunities to lead, teach, and coach other people’s sons. If I work hard and am a little lucky, I’ll have the kind of impacts my coaches had on me, and play an important role in their lives.

Thank you for allowing me to briefly reminisce on the joys of coaching my sons, and the privilege of coaching this great game. Now, on to the task at hand…

You who have followed me here, and most certainly our athletes and staff have heard, “Championships are not won on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons in the Fall…” As we approach Saturday’s State Championship, we will reflect on the days, weeks, months, and years invested into building this team, what it means to be a Hilltopper, and to each of us individually and collectively. We carry with us the benefits of investing in ourselves, each other, and our team. We are richer in mind, body, and spirit for the commitment to team and purpose bigger than any one of us alone.

If you knew you couldn’t play tomorrow, how hard would you play today?

All Hands on Deck… The Championship is here… Let’s do this!

We were victorious in our playoff game on Saturday (Oct 26^th) and the final score would lead one to believe it was an easy win, but that was not the case. Challenges crept in despite my efforts to avoid them.

Around the “Northeast Kingdom” (a colloquial name for our area of Vermont), some people refer to a phenomenon called “Spirit Week Hangover,” following the 115-year rivalry game and the Spirit Week that precedes it. Of course, the problem with such a “hangover” is it lingers through the practice week preceding the opening round of the Vermont State High School Football Playoffs.

As referenced in my blog two weeks ago, there is so much pageantry associated with the playing of “The Game,” (the 115-year rivalry between St Johnsbury and Lyndon Institute).  The parade, pep rally, bonfire, all the media attention on radio, internet and in the paper all culminate in “The Game,” and once complete we find ourselves combatting the subsequent let down following all the hoopla.

Though practice and preps following “The Game,” should be just another game week, it wasn’t. It was the first game of the State playoffs… Win and advance. Lose and your season is over. Winner takes all. Nonetheless, our playoff game had an anticlimactic feel.  Where was the parade? Where were all the people? Our players did not initially play with their usual enthusiasm but our opponents from Colchester certainly did. They came in with an excellent game plan and executed it well through the first quarter.

It was not until the end of the opening quarter that our players began to realize that this game is not about all the people on the outside who lined the field 3 deep for “The Game,” or those who lined the streets for the parade.  It was about them… About the brotherhood cultivated over hundreds of hours of training in the weight room and on the field. About the bonds formed through shared privation of summer heat, sacrificing personal time and attention to build interdependence… It is all about winning so they can spend another week together. It is all about the team…

This week, we are on to the state semi-finals with hopes of earning yet another week together with our “brothers.” For as Shakespeare’s Henry the Fifth states just before the battle of St. Crispian’s Day, “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me, Shall be my brother…”  Though this week’s potential consequences are thankfully far less severe than Henry’s, nonetheless we few, we happy few Hilltoppers… look forward to daring greatly together in the arena and earning our piece of the legacy.

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, and as always, thanks for your time!

In Vermont, the snow comes early so the high school football playoffs do as well.  We finished the regular season last week and begin playoffs this weekend.  Quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals…3 more weeks for those who win and advance.  (Although we will focus on one game, and one week at a time!)

We are thrilled to have secured the #1 seed and home-field advantage for the quarters and semis.  Our senior class has played particularly well at home.  We have only lost two home games in their four years and both to the same team, our rivals the Hartford Hurricanes.

There is an excitement in our community, on our campus, and within our team.  Our job as coaches is to keep it that way and channel that energy.  Although we will maintain the same schedule and focus as we did all season, we will cut back on rep and set ranges for our Monday and Thursday lifts; and we will end practices earlier each day.

We want practices, meetings, and training sessions to be fast and fun.  There will also be less yelling.  If a player does not know his assignments at this point in the season it is our fault not his, so no sense yelling.

We want our players to enjoy every and cherish every minute they are together.  Enjoy the camaraderie of the locker room and the brotherhood on the field that they have cultivated over the weeks and years together.

The worst thing about the playoffs is that only one team will end their season with tears of joy.  All others end with tears of sorrow.  Not so much because they lost… but because all they have come to love, the pride in the team, and their contributions to it, comes to an end.

Best of luck in the Playoffs!

Earn your victory!

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, and as always, thanks for your time!