Team – O Line Skills

Automaticity

March 6, 2025March 5, 2025 Coach AlercioLeave a comment

Vermont High School football is allowed six Spring practices between the Winter and Spring sports seasons. We begin ours this week with a focus on reinforcing automaticity. Automaticity in sports refers to the ability of an athlete to perform skills or movements at a nearly instinctive level. It occurs when an action becomes ingrained through extensive practice and repetition, allowing athletes to execute complex tasks quickly and efficiently under pressure.

Driving, walking, and typing on a keyboard are everyday examples of automaticity. We perform these tasks seemingly without conscious thought, even though awareness of our environment is essential. Our goal is to create muscle memory through repeated practice, strengthening neural pathways and making complex movements more natural while requiring little cognitive effort. This instinctive ability leads athletes to react faster by avoiding pauses common to conscious decision-making and maintain consistency while adapting game conditions.

We’ve previously discussed Colonel John Boyd’s OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) and its relevance wherever time-critical decisions determine success. Automaticity enhances each phase of this loop: players with well-developed automaticity observe more efficiently by focusing on relevant cues, orient faster through pattern recognition, make decisions more confidently based on ingrained knowledge, and execute actions with greater precision. By developing automaticity in fundamental skills, our athletes free up mental bandwidth to handle the unpredictable aspects of football. The targeted skills we practice daily aren’t just about repetition—quality repetitions matter more than time spent practicing.

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!

Giving Thanks: Celebrating Family, Friends, & Football

November 28, 2024November 25, 2024 Coach AlercioLeave a comment

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.

Ripples In Time…

May 26, 2022May 23, 2022 Coach AlercioLeave a comment

“We never know how what we say, do, or think today will affect the lives of millions tomorrow.” A life-long friend and high school teammate recently shared that quote when I told him about a former player’s recent visit. This player’s four years as a Hilltopper coincided with the most successful stretch in our long and proud football history. We earned our way into three state championship games, winning one of them, and made it to the state semifinals the other year.

However, the young man who visited wasn’t the star quarterback, a team-leading lineman, or dominating linebacker. In fact, he never started a game. He made the most of his opportunity to play late in games when the outcome was often already determined. Yet, he felt something significant about his place on the team, his pride in belonging, and the opportunity to contribute.

After a few minutes of small talk, he said, “Coach, there’s a reason for this visit. There’s something I want to give you.” He reached into his pocket to reveal a patch and two challenge coins. Then proudly shared he had become a United States Marine, and the patch and coins were from his new team; the Helicopter Squadron that flies the President on “Marine One.”

He went on to relay he initially did not want to play football as a freshman, but his mom made him. Despite his reluctance, he found teammates and a culture instilling pride in being part of something special. He felt “strength in numbers,” as the team overcame deficits or rallied to lift the motivation of a struggling teammate. He closed by saying “he owes who he is today to his high school football coaches and teammates who gave him both the courage to become a football player, and the confidence to become a Marine.” I am so very thankful for his visit, for his mom’s understanding that the rewards of the game: the lessons about oneself and one’s team are worthy of the sacrifice whether one plays all 48 minutes or only four.

As my long-time friend went on to say, “In hindsight, we see the incredible impact sports had on our lives and the lives of our teammates. We learn as young men the leadership and mentorship of a good coach is life-changing.” He went on to say, “But we have no idea how many of these stories exist… and in a world so frequently dominated by divisiveness and acrimony, isn’t that potential for good, just incredible?”

It warms my heart to know that there is one story such as this, and I trust there are many more.

Athletic Performance Training Starts the New Year!

January 6, 2022January 5, 2022 Coach AlercioLeave a comment

The first order of business for every new year is the implementation of the athletic performance training program. When our players return to school next week, all those not playing a winter sport are expected to train Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with our athletic performance coach.

The philosophy of our program is that athletes train movements, not muscles. We do not break up our workouts into Legs, Chest & Tris, Back & Bis. We train the entire body at every workout with multi-joint ground-based movements, core stabilizers, squat derivations, hip hinges, vertical or horizontal presses, and vertical or horizontal pulls.

We start with ground-based multi-joint movements: Snatch, Cleans, or Jerks. Because of the complexity of the Snatch, we modify it by using a 1-arm Dumbbell Snatch. We superset each of those Olympic lifts with a core stabilization exercise such as planks, dead-bugs, bird-dogs, Paloff presses, etc.

In our next lifting block, we superset a squat movement (back or front squat, hex-bar deadlift, forward, backward, or walking lunges, Bulgarian split squats, etc) with a vertical or horizontal press (barbell or dumbbell bench, incline or push press).

Our last lifting block is a hip hinge lift (barbell deadlift, 1-leg or 2-leg Romanian deadlifts) coupled with a vertical or horizontal pull (pull-ups, chin-ups, barbell, or dumbbell rows).

We encourage our players to do 30 minutes of cardio on Tuesdays and a sprint workout on Thursdays. All of their workouts are in an app called Train Heroic where they can record their weights, reps, times, and other information pertinent to their training so that we can track their progress through the winter months.

We want to be sure the training our players are doing translates to increased athletic performance on the field and not just to them looking better in the mirror. While there are obvious benefits to training in the off-season, perhaps the best one of all is getting those players who are not on a Winter team back together with their “brothers” and giving them something positive to do after a long Christmas break.

Speaking of returning after Christmas Break, it was five years and nearly 230 blog posts ago (around New Year’s 2017) that we started Olineskills.com. Whether you’re new to the site or have been along for the entire ride, I wanted to say thank you for the opportunity to entertain conversations about the game I love and have dedicated more than 40 years to playing and coaching. I look forward to all 2022 brings to us, and hope you and yours enjoyed the Holidays, and are excited about the New Year, new teams, new challenges, and new victories!

A Leader in Every Locker, Week 14; Endurance

November 18, 2021November 17, 2021 Coach AlercioLeave a comment

The 14th and final leadership trait in our series A Leader in Every Locker is Endurance. Endurance is mental and physical stamina measured by the ability to withstand pain, fatigue, stress, adversity, and hardship. This quality allows one to withstand physical and emotional discomfort, pain, and distress while persevering to achieve a goal, objective, or desired outcome.

(Many years ago) When I was a player, coaches often quoted the legendary Vince Lombardi who said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” When I was speaking at a Nike Coach of the Year Football Clinic several years ago, I attended a session presented by a United States Marine Corps Captain who shared a complementary phrase that I have embraced ever since: “Get comfortable being uncomfortable.”

Football is a game of mental and physical adversity and stress. Either can be a lot to bear, but the combination is even more daunting. Hot or cold, tired and sore, bruised and sometimes bloodied, combines with mental and emotional pressures to perform against a determined foe, and an unrelenting clock. This is the type of mental and physical pain players who lead by example, must endure to stay on the field of play and contribute to the good of the team. It must be noted if a player sustains an injury, they must be evaluated by a certified athletic trainer before their status is assessed determining their ability to return to play. We try hard to help our athletes make a distinction between pain and injury and would rather err on the side of caution and safety.

In previous posts, we’ve talked about the ways team sports “inoculate” student-athletes against fear, loss, and adversity. From both my own experience, and from decades of witnessing others encountering circumstances requiring “endurance” and the willingness to push through the “uncomfortableness” of physical, mental, and emotional stress, it’s clear a little “uncomfortableness” now, seeds the ability to endure more later in life. I have a close friend who gave me Alfred Lansing’s book “Endurance, Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage,” which recounts Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 Antarctic expedition and their 24 months locked in an ice flow, battered by the Southern Ocean, and yet undaunted, they endured returning to England without any loss of life.

Football is said to be a game of inches. Those inches are earned by the team who finds a way to give one more try, one more ounce of strength, and who (after every possible consideration) admits defeat last. The game is often won by those who persevere one run, block, tackle, or catch longer than their opponents. The game of life requires endurance as well.

A Leader In Every Locker

August 19, 2021August 19, 2021 Coach AlercioLeave a comment

As Training Camp opens this week, we roll out our leadership program entitled “A Leader in Every Locker.” The purpose of the program is to highlight aspects of leadership, culture, and character underpinning success on and off the football field. It presumes Leadership can be both taught and learned, and emphasizes every player on the team has a leadership role and responsibility. Those who accept their role will make the team better while learning leadership lessons extending well beyond football and high school.

Our program draws heavily on the tenets of one of the most successful leadership institutions with which I am familiar, the United States Marine Corps. For nearly 250 years, the Marine Corp has taught selflessness, and servant leadership as expressed in one’s personal example. In collaboration with a few Marines who also happen to be very close friends, we’ve tailored some of the foundations of the Marine Corps’ program to suit our players and circumstances. Rest assured, I take very few liberties with such a proven program, and often merely substitute “player” or “teammate” for “Marine” where appropriate in the program’s context.

First, let’s settle on the definition of leadership… While Webster may only cite “The ability to lead,” I like (and will teach) the Marine Corps’ definition: “The combination of intellect, interpersonal skills, and character that enables an individual to guide a group of people to successfully accomplish a goal or objective.”

It seems to me as a coach (or teacher, or mentor, etc.), that’s exactly the kind of young man (or lady) we as coaches aspire to help recognize their full potential.

Doubling down on the importance of “character,” and the elemental aspect of “character traits” underpinning the foundation of individual and collective success, we will (weekly) step through each of the next 14 weeks of the season, (taking us from Week 1 of Training Camp through the playoffs), focusing on one of each of the Marine Corps’ 14 leadership traits.

We begin week 1 with “Justice” encouraging all players regardless of grade, level of experience, or years in our program to offer recognition and positive reinforcement of good performance, decision making, and teamwork. We also ask them (players and coaches) to provide constructive criticism or corrective action offered thoughtfully, impartially, and oriented on performance, actions, or decisions, and to do so without personal attacks. (Your block, tackle, catch, throw, route, decision, etc… (i.e. performance) may not have been very good, but we will not criticize one another as a a person.)

As we approach the topic of justice on the field, off the field, and in our community, we’ll have abundant opportunities to have pre- or post-practice, as well as in-meeting discussions with players about situations of justice or injustice, discussing elements handled well or those that could have been handled better. In doing so, we hope to help our players and staff develop a reservoir of examples from which they can draw when faced with circumstances warranting justice moving forward.

I claim no stake in perfection of character. We all grow and learn while recognizing our imperfections. However, we can aspire together to be better and realize our potential. We welcome your perspectives and participation in this conversation. The more diversity of thought on character and character traits, the more we all benefit.

Competition Returns!

July 15, 2021July 15, 2021 Coach AlercioLeave a comment

Thank you to Chris Redding of Vermont All-Star Football Camps and Tom McCoy, head coach at Burr & Burton Academy, for hosting the Inaugural Vermont All-Star Football 7v7 Tournament. Congratulations to Mount Anthony Union High School and Coach Chad Gordon on taking home the championship. We were able to find a way to get a win in Game #1 vs Mt Anthony before they went on a tear winning their next 5 games including knocking us out in the semi finals.

**Join us **Sunday, July 25 at St Johnsbury Academy** for the Vermont All-Star Football Camps Passing Academy and Alercio OLine Clinic**

Now, I look forward to working with Chris Redding to host the Vermont All-Star Football Camps Passing Academy and Alercio OLine Clinic on Sunday, July 25 at St Johnsbury Academy. I was excited to meet linemen from Mt Anthony and Burr & Burton who shared how eager they are to make the trip to STJ to hone their OLine Skills. I am also thrilled to bring college coaches and position specialists to the Northeast Kingdom to work with all position players.

The Math and Science teachers of those attending the Alercio OLine Clinic will appreciate how we set and maintain optimal geometric angles in the ankle, knee, hip and elbows in run blocking and the leg angles used in pass blocking. They will also be happy to know that we incorporate Newton’s Third Law that for every action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. We call it Ground Force Reaction as we time our run punch with the grounding of our second step and pass strike with the grounding of our third. Lastly, we’re not shy about teaching “Inertia” either. A pass rusher will continue on his path (to sack the quarterback) unless acted upon by another force; ideally an Offensive Lineman imparting a vector of sufficient force and direction to change the rusher’s predetermined course!

Competitive and instructional opportunities like these are commonplace in many states but are a rarity in Vermont, especially in the Northeast Kingdom. To take advantage of this opportunity, visit https://www.vtfootballcamps.com/events/vermont-all-star-passing-academy/

A Fond Farewell…

June 24, 2021June 23, 2021 Coach AlercioLeave a comment

Farewell Fairbanks Field. You were good to us. In the past eight seasons you saw us post a 34-4 home record while going 10-0 in home playoff games. In the last five years, only one school in the State of Vermont has walked off your grass with a win. You truly gave us a home field advantage.

More importantly, you saw players enter your gates as boys and leave them four years later as men and leaders in their community. You saw individuals come together as a team, a family, a brotherhood. You saw us work as hard Monday through Friday as we did on Saturdays.

Over the coming weeks, we will lay down an artificial turf field and erect lights. Games this fall will move from Saturday afternoons to Friday nights. While I am thrilled for our program, I am equally excited for our local community. The residents of St Johnsbury and surrounding towns will now have their own version of “Friday Night Lights.”

Kenny Chesney’s song “The Boys of Fall,” includes the lyrics:

“When I feel that chill, and smell that fresh cut grass
I’m back in my helmet, cleats, and shoulder pads
Standing in the huddle listening to the call
Fans going crazy for the boys of fall…”

Thank you to the past Hilltoppers whose hard work and dedication lead to the success that made this possible. While you may never play on this new field, you are the reason future Hilltoppers will. Future teams might not “smell that fresh cut grass” but they will most certainly work as hard as you did, uphold the legacy you left, and it is my most sincere hope they will look back as fondly as so many of you do.

New Hires & New Perspectives

May 27, 2021May 26, 2021 Coach AlercioLeave a comment

This week, I had my first meeting with a newly hired assistant coach on our staff. He brings a dozen years of high school and college coaching experience from schools in the mid-west. While he seemed excited to join our staff and learn what we have done to achieve our past successes, I am equally thrilled to hear what he knows and to have him share with our staff what he has learned during his tenure.

Some advice for head coaches hiring assistants and for that matter everyone in leadership hiring anyone to their staff: Do not surround yourself with sycophants. Obsequious assistant coaches may be good for a head coach’s ego, but they offer little value to a program. There is a saying, “if we are all of the same opinion then there is no need for all of us to be here.” Surround yourself with assistants who will offer their thoughts and challenge yours.

While it’s common for interviews to include questions about an applicant’s “strengths and weaknesses,” as leaders it’s often more important to know your own than to listen to an applicant offer platitudes about “working too hard,” or “being a perfectionist.” Particularly after a leader has developed some tenure and a reservoir of experience, knowing your weaknesses helps you hire to fill them.

Be the best you are at what you do, and reinforce your core strengths while hiring to fill gaps in capabilities. In a stadium, where you sit determines what you see… Perspectives matter. As leaders we don’t need someone sitting over our shoulder with the same view and perspective. We need those whose strengths, views, and perspectives differ if we are to truly build complementary staffs, and ultimately teams.

We have stated in previous blogs that together our team is always stronger than any one individual. The same applies to our staff.

Measurables & Immeasurables…

May 20, 2021May 20, 2021 Coach AlercioLeave a comment

In previous years, we have shared blogs of a practice our staff does of drafting the players on our team in the order we would choose them if we were picking teams. We do it around the time of the NFL Draft. The post-draft staff discussions are always interesting as reasons are shared as to why one coach ranked a player so much higher than another.

It is not uncommon for coaches in our draft or executives in the NFL draft to get caught up in the “measurables”. College coaches do it as well in the recruiting process. Quarterbacks need to be 6′ 3″ or taller and offensive linemen need to be at least 6′ 4″. The athletic test know as “The Combine” tests players in the 40 yard dash, vertical jump, bench press, broad jump, shuttle, and three cone drill. Coaches have rows and columns of “measurables” yet some players find ways to surprise. Personally, I became a fan of the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers when I saw their offensive success with a 5′ 9″ Center. As a former 5′ 9″ college Center, I have an appreciation for overcoming those stereotypes and delivering above cursory expectations.

While the NFL draft and the college recruiting process affords coaches the luxury of being picky in player selection, high school football does not offer such indulgences. We coach the boys who live in our town and try to put the best 11 on the field regardless of their size. As my high school defensive coordinator, Ed Heffernan used to say, “do not prejudice a player based on his size.”

A “higher maxim” found in 1 Samuel 16:7 teaches us, “…the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Others seem to echo similar sentiments as in Admiral William H McCraven’s famous University of Texas commencement speech stating: “if you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart.” Unfortunately, the NFL has yet to find a way to track heart size as a measurable. While I claim to be no better at measuring heart, I would like to emphasize the importance in a high school coaches’ role in leading, guiding, teaching, and mentoring our student athletes to build as big a heart as bench press or squat. When adversity finds our players later in life (as it finds us all), adversity never checks the tangibles. Our athletes’ hearts are measured in resilience, endurance, and perseverance. As coaches, our charge is to help them do more than they thought possible, so that some day when tested by adversity, they will find themselves equal to that task (Combine or no combine!)