Mark your calendar with the 2025 Alercio OLine Clinic dates and locations. There is a saying in football that “games are won in the trenches.” Alercio OLine Clinics has specialized in teaching the technical and tactical skills of the trenches for 25 years. We strongly believe that the true “Skill Players” in football are the offensive linemen. We teach the coordination and execution of learned physical tasks, enabling linemen of any size to achieve both individual and team success.
Football is a complex game played at high speed, requiring quick decisions in a chaotic environment. Our goal is to simplify the process. Mike Kuchar, Co-Founder of X&O Labs.com, summed it up perfectly with his quote: ” The clarity of your teaching simplifies the game tremendously.” Join us at The Hun School of Princeton (NJ) Sunday 13 April, West Orange High School (NJ) Sunday 25 May, and St Johnsbury Academy (VT) Sunday 8 June.
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!
I turn 60 this week and am reminded of a quote from George Bernard Shaw, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” It is a powerful reminder about the importance of staying active and engaged in life. It is a philosophy that applies to both physical and mental activity. Keeping play in your life helps maintain youthfulness at any age.
Consider doing any or all of the following: Challenge yourself by learning a new skill like playing a musical instrument or a new activity, game, or sport like pickleball. Rediscover hobbies, games, and activities you loved as a kid. Engage in play with kids or pets. Join group games or sports to add social connections to your life.
Age is just a number. Attitude, mindset, and lifestyle are far more important than the number of years you have lived. Like Tim McGraw sang, “My next 30 years will be the best years of my life.”
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 its core, “Merry Christmas” is an invitation to celebrate joy and happiness. It embodies the spirit of goodwill, encouraging people to come together, share love, friendship, and spread cheer. This joy transcends cultural and religious boundaries, making it a universal expression of positivity.
For many, this time of year marks an opportunity for reflection on the past year and aspirations for the future. We plan to spend time with family and friends, express gratitude for the many blessings we enjoy, and look forward to the opportunities and adventures ahead.
With that in mind, I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year. Look for the next blog to be posted in the first week of January after we have had time to celebrate the Holiday season and enjoy all it brings.
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 hosted our football banquet last weekend and for all accounts by players, parents, coaches and administrators it was a great event so I thought I would share what we do to make it so well received.
To make the event accessible for all in a place that can accommodate our numbers and keep expenses down, we host the banquet in our school’s Dining Hall. Our food service provider does an excellent job providing white linen tablecloths and napkins to dress it up and we let them choose the meal (Pasta, meatballs, salad, and garlic bread). Something everybody likes.
We want our players to feel like it is a special event and to dress appropriately, but we do not set the parameters of what they should wear. We simply say “dress to impress” so they define the attire. Some will wear jackets and ties while others will don their best flannel shirt and trucker hat.
Although I have been a guest speaker at a number of high school banquets when I was a college coach, we do not have one. No one wants to hear a long-winded speech about something that does not pertain to the team.
Through the night, we hand out Varsity letters and pins, recognize seniors and give our superlative awards. All juniors and seniors and any underclassmen who were a varsity offensive, defensive or special teams 2 Deep receive a letter and pin. When we honor our seniors, we have our assistant coaches come up one-by-one to speak about the seniors they coached in their position groups. This allows all coaches to be involved in the event, gives the audience a chance to hear personal anecdotes, and gives me a break from the podium. When we present our superlative awards we want to send an intentional message to the audience that we award the behaviors we want exhibited:
• Our MVP exemplifies S.W.A.T. be Smart, Work hard And be Tough. • Our Hilltopper Award is given to the player who shows the most Energy, Effort, and Enthusiasm. • The Coaches Award goes to the player with the most Ability: Availability, Reliability, Accountability, and Dependability. • Our Scout Team Player of the Year goes to a player who exemplifies Selflessness on a daily basis.
Regardless of a particular season’s outcome, we find ways to reinforce the very best of what we want our players, coaches, teams, and culture to represent. While we send our Seniors off with best wishes in their new chapters, we also highlight the expectations for underclassmen to step up and take leadership roles in 2025.
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!
After last week’s post about our inaugural Turkey Bowl, a game initiated following our move to Vermont, someone shared a photo of the 5th Annual Turkey Bowl. In looking at the photo, I was struck by two things: Thanksgiving in northern Vermont can have you in 6 inches of snow one year, and shorts and t-shirts the next. Second: how our numbers (and fun!) grew every year.
The phrase “Build it, and they will come” originated in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, but it has now become a metaphor for creating valuable things and the natural attraction that draws people to them. The phrase highlights the importance of vision, action, and faith in all endeavors. It encourages individuals to take a leap of faith and trust that their efforts will eventually attract attention, support, or success.
Our Turkey Bowl exemplifies this perfectly. By creating something meaningful and fostering an inclusive atmosphere, we’ve watched our community naturally expand, proving that authentic experiences have a magnetic quality – whether in sports, business, or community building.
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 first Thanksgiving after moving our family to Vermont from New Jersey, we hosted dozens of families for the inaugural Turkey Bowl. Parents tailgated in our driveway while our kids and all of their friends played on two fields lined and marked in the yard with pylons. Our first holiday in our new home was made special thanks to Friends, Family, and Football. I was then, and have been very thankful for all of the ways we feel and express gratefulness and thanks for the many blessings we enjoy.
Thanksgiving and football have a long-standing and deeply intertwined tradition. The NFL has hosted Thanksgiving Day games for over 100 years with the Cowboys and Lions being perennial competitors, each hosting the other year after year. Thanksgiving weekend also features college and high school football rivalry games. Cities and towns, large and small celebrate these events with trophies like Keg of Nails (Cincinnati vs Louisville), The Old Brass Spittoon (Indiana vs Michigan State), or the Jeweled Shillelagh (USC vs Notre Dame).
Whether you are hosting your own Turkey Bowl, raising trophies (old or just invented), watching the NFL or college games on TV, or attending your local high school game, I hope this Thanksgiving holiday allows you to celebrate togetherness with Family, Friends, and Football.
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!
After the season is over and all the equipment is collected, players schedule a one-on-one year-end meeting with me. These meetings serve as an opportunity to reflect on the past season, assess their progress, set off-season goals, and discuss where they see themselves next year.
I try to orchestrate the process of self-reflection to be motivating and affirming. I want players to recognize the progress they’ve made, the skills they developed, and the goals they reached. Further, I try to very tangibly acknowledge the contributions they made to the team, fostering a sense of appreciation and making the player feel valued in the program. It also provides an opportunity to discuss what didn’t go well and why. I’m genuinely interested in players’ perceptions and encourage them to raise concerns, discuss obstacles they faced, and share challenges they have off of the field that impact their performance on the field.
These meetings also give me an opportunity to provide feedback on what they did well and opportunities for improvement. I make every effort to ensure the feedback is clear, actionable, and focused on improvement for the individual player and the team.
The year-end meetings are a chance to strengthen the coach–player relationship by creating a two-way dialogue that hopefully fosters trust, leads to more engaged players, and conveys how much I care about them. This opens the door to conversations about any misunderstandings that may have occurred during the season, while opening the door to future dialogues whenever players feel the need.
By giving players an opportunity to voice their opinions, share their concerns, and provide feedback we create players who feel more engaged and invested in the program leading to greater retention and hopefully recruitment of their classmates.
In closing, year-end meetings are a critical opportunity to reflect, learn, plan, and motivate ensuring both the player and the team are set up for success and looking forward to the year ahead.
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 first Monday after the season’s final game—unless you’ve won the championship—can be a melancholy day. Some scholars have suggested that Tuckman’s Teambuilding stages of “Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing” should include a fifth stage: “Mourning,” acknowledging the natural conclusion of a team’s season and the inevitable changes in relationships among teammates.
While mourning is a natural process, and we shouldn’t suppress genuine emotions, our society has begun shifting toward celebrating life rather than dwelling on loss. In our football program, we’ve intentionally chosen to embrace this perspective by celebrating the season’s end. This approach transforms what could be a grieving period into a meaningful commemoration of our seniors’ impact on both our team and our lives. We’ve crafted a conclusion that offers a positive, uplifting, and deeply personal experience for all teammates, particularly our graduating seniors.
The celebration begins on the field, where we bring out the ball bag and simply let the players play. It invariably evolves into spirited one-on-one matchups, with linemen challenging defensive backs or attempting to run routes as receivers. When players start lobbying to play quarterback, we know they’ve had their fill of fun and it’s time for the next phase.
We then gather on the midfield logo, where we ask our seniors to disperse to their most meaningful spots on the field while their teammates observe their chosen locations. Upon returning to the group, each senior shares the significance of their chosen spot, often revealing touching or humorous memories that shaped their high school football experience. The ceremony concludes with our underclassmen forming a line, allowing each senior to walk off the field one final time while exchanging handshakes, hugs, and heartfelt words with their “brothers.”
When we finally return to the fieldhouse to turn in equipment, the mood is noticeably lighter. Players leave with smiles, having supported one another through a positive celebration of their shared experiences and cherished memories. This tradition helps transform what could be a sorrowful ending into a meaningful celebration of brotherhood and growth.
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!
I recently received a heartwarming message from a parent of one of my players, thanking me for the season and sharing some very kind words. Along with the message was the photo shared in this blog. I had never seen this image before and it struck me how it so perfectly embodies the Coach-Athlete relationship. We give of ourselves to fill in the missing pieces of each of our players. The real trick to coaching is determining which piece each player needs. There is a great quote from Ric Charlesworth, a former coach and Olympic athlete from Australia. “The interesting thing about coaching is that you have to trouble the comfortable, and comfort the troubled.” In coaching, one size most certainly does not fit all, and square pegs do not fit into round holes.
In the image, the coach gives yet another piece of himself to make the athlete whole, but at what expense to the Coach? Coaching requires extraordinary commitment… Long days, lost weekends, and few vacations. (especially early in a coaching career). Because of this time commitment, coaches must sacrifice time with friends and family. Coaches often miss social functions, special events, and occasionally even birthdays. We do not get these pieces back, but we firmly believe the investment in others makes it a worthwhile trade.
Over time, we learn to try and find something approaching balance in our lives, but each of us recognizes many of the pieces we pass on are not our own, but the pieces our coaches passed to us, and their coaches passed to them. In many ways, not coaching seems as if it would be the more selfish choice. I’d like to think over more than four decades playing and coaching the game of football, I’ve found a way to pass on the gifts I was given, and still cherish the time I have with my family and closest friends.
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 singing of a school’s alma mater is a nostalgic and unifying experience. Early in my tenure at SJA, one of our assistant coaches who is a proud alum came to me with a suggestion. We should sing our alma mater after the games like our Service Academies do. Such songs serve as a tribute to the institution, evoking nostalgia and pride while reinforcing shared values and experiences that connect generations. Since then, after every successful outcome, our players and coaches gather, face our fans, and sing our alma mater. All current students and fans in attendance join in from the bleachers and sideline uniting one and all in our collective success.
Players, Staff, Cheer Team, & others join with members of our community to sing the St J. Alma Mater
After our triumph in the 119th playing of “The Game” this past weekend making it 10 wins in a row, our cheer team rushed the field to join us while hundreds of alumni sang along from our sideline truly unifying our campus community. The next day I received an email from one generous alumna stating, “You have restored in me the pride I used to feel when I wore green and white!!!”
The lyrics of our alma mater highlight the values and traditions that make St Johnsbury Academy special. The first line is my favorite. “Our strong band can ne’er be broken formed at St. J. A.”
This cherished song goes beyond mere words and melody; it’s a cultural artifact that helps shape the school’s ethos. By singing the alma mater, members of the St. Johnsbury Academy community reaffirm their commitment to the ideals and aspirations that define the school, fostering a sense of pride and unity that extends far beyond game or graduation day.
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!
O Line Skills 