O Line Skills

The Vermont Principal Association recently announced that football practices will begin at the start of the school year.  While it is great news to hear there is a plan to have football this fall in Vermont, it also means no pre-season training camp, no 2-a-days, no meetings, and no walk-throughs.  In a nutshell, we have lost a great deal of teaching opportunities.  In keeping with the theme of recent posts, we, as coaches, need to adapt to change.  Fewer teaching opportunities mean fewer installations.

When I speak at clinics, I often share the analogy that playbooks are like closets.   Most closets are filled with clothes you never wear, and playbooks are filled with plays you never call.  Do you really need the 12 sweaters you have on the top shelf of your closet?  No, nor do you need the 12 running plays in your playbook.  Keep the 5 or 6 sweaters you wear most often and get rid of the rest.  Do the same with your dress shirts, golf shirts, pants, sweats, etc.  Then go to your playbook and do the same with your runs, passes, and screens.  Only keep the plays you call most often.  This year does not allow us time to teach plays we do not call.

Marie Kondo is a popular design/home organization consultant, and she’s become a multi-millionaire with her “KonMari” philosophy of encouraging clients to consider an item and ask “Does it bring you joy?” If not a resounding yes, she suggests removing the item from the home. I might suggest you not be sentimental with your clothes or your plays.  If you do not wear it or call it, (if it does not “bring you joy”) now is the time to get rid of it.  Simplify… and focus only on what you need so that your players can focus on what you will call.

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!

The 67th Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl has been canceled. I genuinely appreciate the Board of Governors’ invitation to their meeting and affording me the opportunity to share some thoughts on how we may have been able to make changes allowing us to play.

In the end, the financial burden, health risks, and volunteer time to transition and incorporate changes needed to follow the emergency health guidelines made it an easy decision for the board. While the Board of Governors would have truly enjoyed hosting and presenting the 2020 Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl, their rationale and desire to safeguard the players, families, and communities was clear.

Plans are in place to bring the Vermont team together in an outdoor environment to recognize them and give them their Shrine football jerseys.  While they will never play in the Shrine game, they will always be Shrine players.  They join an elite fraternity of the best who ever played the game in the Green Mountain State. They would have been a great team and a formidable opponent for our friends in the Granite State.

As we discussed in last week’s blog post, the species that is most adaptable to change is the one with the greatest chance of survival. I’m confident these young men will indeed adapt to the changes we face, and find ways to thrive while representing their teams, towns, and families in the coming months.

Coach Rich 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!

While football is not life or death, these ever-changing times do remind me of Charles Darwin’s quote, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent….  It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”  

Change is difficult.  Especially when you have been accustomed to doing something a certain way for a long time… Even more so when there is abundant proof that philosophies and practices of the past have led to success. Momentum is a valuable resource, but we have to get our eyes up off the hood ornament and a little further down the road to be successful, (and can’t afford to become complacent!)

Moving forward, the key to future success (survival) is to be able to adapt what you have done (and learned) in the past to align with the constantly changing circumstances of the present.

Today’s rapidly evolving conditions, guidelines, and challenges require a patient and thoughtful approach. Just as we talked in early February’s post about “Improvising and Adapting,” the same Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act (OODA) loop applies.

Find a new way.  Adapt to change.  Survive, and ideally, find a way to thrive!

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!

Football is back!  I was reminded of how important that is in a text message from our headmaster discussing the impact football can have on those in our communities who need it the most:

“For some, football is their ticket, for others, it’s a highlight of high school, for some it’s just fun.  For some, it could save their life.”

His text also serves as a reminder that for some of our players the two hours they spend

with us may be the best two hours of their day.  Unfortunately, they may be the only positive two hours of their day.  When they are with us they are part of a “brotherhood.” They are part of something bigger than themselves.  They are surrounded by people who care about them and push them to be the very best versions of themselves.   It is also a place where they may hear three words that they do not hear anywhere else in their lives, “I love you.”

We have 15 OTAs over the next five weeks followed by five days of minicamp.  After all we have lost through the recent school closures, these team activities feel like a gift.  20 gifts.  20 opportunities to make positive impacts on lives, and maybe even save one.

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!

We are grateful for the many generous donations in response to last week’s blog in regard to supporting Shrine Hospitals and our son Trey’s participation in the 67th Annual Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl.  If you are still interested in supporting but have not yet done so, you can donate here: Trey Alercio’s Giving Page  We remain optimistic the game will be played, and even more donations will flow to such a worthy cause.

Vermont Governor Phil Scott’s most recent update allows for organized sports to resume effective Monday, June 15.  We will begin our football summer Organized Team Activities (OTAs) at 5pm that day. There are some restrictions, but we will find a way (and it may even be a better way!)  Close contact activities are not yet allowed so we cannot engage in intra-squad scrimmages but we can do no and low contact physical conditioning and skill-building drills.

We need to keep groups to 25 or less including coaches.  We will move our weightlifting equipment from our weight room into our fieldhouse to allow for the 25 participants to practice social distancing unless spotting.  We will incorporate USA Weightlifting’s suggestion to have spotters on each side of a bar instead of a single spotter in the middle closer to the lifter.  Equipment will be cleaned and disinfected regularly.  Make no bones about it, we are taking the conditions and circumstances seriously and use the opportunity to reinforce discipline, attention to detail, and doing the right thing, at the right time, for the right reason.

Our skill-building drills for offense and defense will be held outside.  Everyone will have a cloth face-covering in their possession to be used, as necessary when physical distancing measures are difficult to maintain such as when the entire group needs to be addressed. There will be no spitting and no sharing of water bottles.  Each player will be encouraged to bring their own bottle.   We look forward to welcoming our returning players back and our new players into our program.  Despite the challenges we’ve faced this Spring, we will focus on the fundamentals of culture, character, and teamwork. Together we will always be stronger than any one of us could be alone.

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!

Monday, June 1 is graduation day for the most successful group of seniors in the 125-year history of St Johnsbury Academy Hilltopper Football.

• 4 State Semifinal appearances
• 3 State Championship appearances
• 1 State Championship
• 36 Wins
• 20-2 Home Record
• 6-0 Home Playoff Record
• 4-0 in The Game (vs Lyndon Institute)

We honor our seniors and all they accomplished during their four years together.  They worked hard, they played smart and they were tough.  We wish them the same success on the paths they take into the next chapter of their lives and trust the lessons they learned and the friendships they forged will last a lifetime.

It’s easy to look at the list above and think someone laid a golden path to such success and these young men had string after string of extraordinary victories. Succeed they did, and repeatedly win indeed, but at the same time, they encountered individual and collective challenges, adversity, and difficulties that sometimes caused them to lean on each other when doubts crept in. It’s the sum of those experiences spanning a full spectrum of emotions that makes them so special.

In Shakespeare’s Henry V, young Harry the King rallies his troops before the battle of Agincourt noting all who stand with him against such mighty odds will forever be remembered.

“…We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother;

The Brits went on to win at Agincourt that day and have been remembered for centuries. While these young men may not be immortalized by Shakespeare, they share a bond common amongst those special teams whose exploits are recalled year after year when special events, anniversaries, and feasts are remembered.

Class of 2020, Hilltopper Teammates, you have stood the test, run the race, and fought the good fight. You have earned your accolades and success. You will always be “Brothers!”

A day does not go by that someone does not ask my thoughts on what the football season will look like this year.  I do not know.  Nobody (not even the experts) know.

I hope that we can start our summer Organized Team Activities (OTAs) on Monday, June 8th, but I am going to plan for our players to perform their workouts off-campus and on their own.

I hope to host our Youth Football Camp the week of June 22 but will plan to have it in late July to buy more time for restrictions to be lifted.

I hope that we can have our team Mini Camp the week of July 20 but will have a plan to install our offense and defense with Zoom meetings.

I hope that the Vermont Shrine Team can report for camp the last week of July and play the game versus New Hampshire on August 1 but I will plan to have our offense and defense installed in fewer practices than we are scheduled for in case we are not allowed to dorm together for the week.

I hope to have our team report to Training Camp on August 10 and play our home opener on the 29th but will plan to continue workouts and installations virtually until the time we are allowed to come together as a team.

My friends who are Marines tell me “hope is not a course of action, and serendipity is not strategy…” Yet they are still some of the most optimistic people I know. Even in the most challenging of circumstances, they find silver linings, reasons to work harder, and opportunities to learn new lessons.

These are uncertain times indeed, and we will most certainly work hard, find good, and learn about our teammates and ourselves. We’ll stay optimistic, hope for the best, plan for the worst, and be grateful for the opportunities we’re given.  Looking back at the list of “worsts” listed above, I can’t help but think if every last one of those “worsts” were to come true, we’d still be OK… and as a staff, we’d still focus on developing our players, our team, and our culture.

We’ll grow stronger through the adversity we encounter, set a good example for our student-athletes, and say a prayer for those whose list of “worsts” include the real tragedies so many encounter.  The Hilltoppers will be just fine… and we stand ready together; come what may.

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!