Several months ago, I texted my friend group of high school teammates alerting Todd, the one who lives in South Florida, that I would be in Fort Lauderdale the first week of February with my Mom and Sister, celebrating Mom’s 91st birthday, and invited him to come visit. He replied, “Is she making cutlets?” I responded, “She is if you’re coming.” That led to Dave, from Virginia, chiming in, “I want cutlets.” Soon after, in North Carolina, Sean replied “I’m in.”
Four decades and over a thousand miles from the last time and place Mom made us cutlets, we gathered to celebrate her birthday, and our lifelong friendships forged in a crowded locker room and dusty practice field at Toms River High School North in 1979.
Tall tales will be told and forty years will seemingly disappear. There’s just something magic about the bonds formed around the game of football. We depended on each other then (both on and off the field), and have been blessed to continue depending on, and celebrating one another ever since!
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 so often reference, football can be a complex game. The decisions and actions offensive linemen consider and execute in games need to be repeated (practiced) every day to become automatized so they lose complexity and gain simplicity. Automating tasks every day in practice can reduce complexity and streamline repetitive processes, allowing players to focus on the tactical rather than the technical at the line of scrimmage on gameday. We both “train:” plan, practice, and execute a set of actions when confronted with certain conditions; as well as “educate:” observe, orient, decide, and act in non-standard situations.
For example, the Playside Guard on Power needs to identify whether he is covered or not. If he is covered, he needs to communicate the double team to the Playside Tackle, then identify which Linebacker they will double team to. Next, he determines the step, visual target, and strike points to block the defensive lineman with inside leverage in order to establish the inside half of the double team as well as account for the A Gap Linebacker run through. The steps used will differ depending on the alignment of the defender in a 2i or 3 technique. If the Guard is uncovered, he must turn his focus inward to the defender aligned on the Center to identify the step, visual target, and strike points to execute a down block. All this must occur in less than 10 seconds.
For 25 years, we have trained thousands of players and hundreds of coaches the steps, visual targets, strike points, and leverage used on run and pass blocks in Gap, Zone, and Man schemes at the Alercio OLine Clinics. We teach, train, and educate athletes and coaches to help reduce complexity and simplify decisions and actions in chaotic environments on gameday.
Come learn with us this Spring and simplify your or your team’s path to success.
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!
Stories that endure, do so for a reason. When we encounter a myth, legend, or ancient maxim that has survived centuries of retelling, we’re not just hearing an old tale – we’re connecting with a truth that generations before us found worthy of preserving.
I can’t say this story has been around for centuries, but I have used it before because I do find enduring value. I am reminded of this story as the football clinic season begins and we reflect on one of the greatest things in our profession: The willingness to share.
“Two people meet each having a penny. They exchange pennies and walk away still only having one penny. Two people meet each having an idea. They exchange ideas and walk away now having two ideas.”
While Coaches will share more plays and concepts that we can count, I am also reminded that there is no “Miracle Solution” guaranteed to score on every possession, stop teams from getting first downs, turn kick returns into touchdowns, or turn past failures into future successes. The game of football is a complex issue without a simple solution. Everyone would run the same things on offense and defense if it did.
Success requires multiple strategies to address challenges. Just because something worked for one coach or team does not necessarily mean it will work for you and yours. While it may look marvelous in video clips and explanations, we must ensure such ideas fit into your system, so that the schemes and reads can be implemented effectively with your players and their skill levels.
The acronym KISS is often used in coaching football prompting coaches to keep it simple. Another acronym I suggest is LEAP. Keep it Learnable, Engaging, Applicable, and Practical. Plays, schemes, and reads that fit into your system are more easily learned, making them more engaging, applicable, and practical.
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!
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!
O Line Skills 