Dominate at Football Camp With These Ten Run Blocking Tips!

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Everyone knows that good results in football starts up front, with the offensive line. Nowhere is that concept more apparent than when considering running the football. Now, if you are an offensive lineman getting yourself ready for the season we have an article for you. Here, in our earliest “online football camp” segment we’ll outline the ten most significant strategies to have in mind when dealing a crushing run block. All of the methods are going to be explored in a traditional football camp (and a lot more), but right here we’re sticking to the 10 best. Make use of these and your opponents are going to be overpowered and you shall be guaranteed victory!

Tip 1 – Start using a balanced stance

Should you be off-balance just before you start off, you will be off-balance whenever you engage your opponent. A superb run block starts using a balanced stance. Firstly, your head will have to be up. You should be able to see the majority of your opponent’s body. Next, your back really should be parallel to the ground. Your rear and head really should be level with one another.

Remember to keep your feet shoulder width apart with one foot (whichever is most suitable) back. The back foot shouldn’t be too far back. That can cause you to take larger steps to come out of your stance and you will be off-balance.

Tip 2 – Anticipate the snap

Practice with a large dummy or blocking bag either within the weight room or on the practice field. Have your quarterback, coach or buddy speak a cadence and repeatedly attempt and anticipate the snap of the ball. Attack immediately. The faster it is possible to come out of the stance and attack the defender, the more quickly you can start to take manipulate of their center of gravity. Try to remember, attack rapidly! If you can get good at anticipating the snap, you’ll be able to have some element of surprise when you hit your opponent just before they’ve got a chance to come out of their stance.

Tip 3 – Be aggressive, explode out of your stance

Just after you have mastered anticipating the snap, practice attacking with crushing force at a single point on your opponent’s frame. As an example, to drive the defender straight back, concentrate on a middle point at the top of his numbers and push through it with all your might. Swiftly and decisively hit that point with everything in your body and spirit. Burst through that point like a freight train through a building. Don’t be afraid. Be decisive and forceful.

Tip 4 – Use short, controlled steps

When engaging and driving the defender back use brief, choppy steps whenever you drive them. That should help you stay balanced and maintain a consistent degree of power in your steps. Long steps will put you off-balance making it easier for the defender to manipulate you with their hands.

Tip 5 – Always keep your hands inside

You need to have command of the defender continually. This is achieved by keeping your hands inside your opponent’s shoulders. No matter whether or not you’re driving the defender to the left, right or in a straight line back you’ll want to have your hands inside at all times. They need to be placed firmly on the defender’s torso with the fingers in their armpits. This will help you manipulate the defender’s center of gravity and stop you from engaging in a bear-hug or holding.

Tip 6 – Keep low

Any superior offensive line coach will run you through the “shoots” relentlessly. This really is done to condition you to “stay low”. Why? Mainly because when you keep low, you’re able to be beneath and drive through an opponent’s center of gravity. This is so crucial and also a fundamental aspect of blocking (both the run and pass). The man who stands vertically will fail 99% of the time. Stay low. Your facemask should be in your opponent’s numbers.

Tip 7 – Remember to keep your head up at all times

The best approach to get beat by a good defender is usually to have your head down. You will be tempted to utilize it like a ram and shoot it straight forward but that is an enormous error. Your opponent will likely grab your shoulder pads, step towards the side and throw you out-of-the-way. This can be one of the most important guidelines within this list. Head up, always!

Tip 8 – Do not overextend your body

If you are used to taking major strides when blocking or playing with your head down then you probably often “overextend” your body. This happens any time you have a lot of body weight tilting forward. I know, we’ve stated “be aggressive” and you should “crush” your opponent but you must do it in a controlled approach. Being a lineman (or any routine blocker) is like being a samurai warrior: you must attack using a disciplined manner and with superb balance. The warrior without balance is really a reed in the breeze in a position to fall down.

Tip 9 – Drive through your opponent

Whenever you initially engage the defender it is good to think that they must be several yards back, so push them where they belong. Don’t just “engage” the other person. Push through their body like they’re a ghost. See through your opponent and push through them straight back to where they actually belong: back in the defensive backfield.

Tip 10 – Finish your opponent

Do not forget these words well: “The play is not finished till the whistle blows”. I know chances are you’ll see other players stop halfway through the play and dog it, but it’s best to under no circumstances engage in such patterns. Why? Because it is a missed opportunity. Odds are, you’re going to be competing with the exact same guy all game. Every play can be an opportunity to demoralize and intimidate your opponent. You want them to quit. So, regardless of exactly where they may be, regardless of how far along the play has gone you keep blocking them. Nonstop. Never quit. It’ll pay off by the end as your adversary becomes tired and stops wanting to compete with you. After that your work shall be a lot less complicated. Some hustle during the 1st two quarters can get you a significantly weaker challenger during the latter two quarters. Be persistent. Never give up!

There you go! Finally, get on the practice field and/or in the workout center and improve these strategies relentlessly. Fight, fight, fight to understand all of these tips and you will be going down the road to football run blocking domination. Don’t forget, do not ever quit!

Experience Island Hopping Adventure in Vanuatu

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Feeling in the mood for adventure in a far away exotic place? Perhaps you seek a unique way to experience the natural beauty in Vanuatu, South Pacific? You’ll find several options to help you enjoy the splendor of this archipelago. However, for the adventurous sort, island hopping is the best way to experience your Vanuatu holiday adventure.

What’s island hopping, you ask? Simply put, it’s visiting one island, perhaps staying the night in a hotel or camped on the beach and then moving on to the next island. This form of travel allows you to enjoy each island and islet in Vanuatu, or as many as you can during your time in the islands.

Adventurous Island Hopping

Island hopping is perhaps best suited for those with the craving for adventure. Many of the islands in the archipelago are uninhabited, yet still features the swaying palm trees, verdant jungles and pristine white beaches of the other islands. Island hopping can help you enjoy as many of these jewels as possible. Explore the jungles, enjoy the beach, bath in the ocean or rivers… It’s the life of adventure you crave.

One of the best islands with which to begin your island hopping adventure is Espiritu Santo; you’ll find virgin forest, the ruins of WWII US troops, such as crashed planes and abandoned Quonset huts and more.

For the very adventurous, Ambrym island offers a wealth of opportunity. This volcanic island, home to two active volcanoes Benbow and Marum, has long been an ideal place for a true adventure. Ambrym is famous for sorcery and magic, wood carvings, and Rom dances.

Malekula island is an incredible place to explore. The customs of of the islanders remain largely unchanged and it’s a favored destination by anthropologists around the world. The warm and welcoming tribes of Malekula act as guides for exploring the island and take great pride in discussing their culture and heritage.

Island Hopping for the Couple

Are you looking for a romantic getaway in the midst of the South Pacific? Island hopping can give you that, as well. Island hopping for romance is somewhat different than adventure hopping. The premise is the same, however. Visit one of the uninhabited islands and pack a picnic lunch for the beach; explore secluded lagoons and inlets, or walk hand in hand through coconut groves and the water’s edge. You’ll find no more romantic spot in the universe.

How to Do It

So, you’re sold on the idea of island hopping, but are unsure of how to accomplish it? You can do so very easily. Local charter aircraft can put you down almost anywhere. Alternatively, charter a sailboat and enjoy the trip that much more. You can easily cruise the waters between many of the islands in only a few hours, giving you a broad range of destinations every day. For the romantically minded, there are charter cruises that will even provide you with the picnic lunch, as well as set you down in the most secluded places possible.

You’ll find numerous islands to visit in this chain of over 80 islands in Vanuatu. There are many islets to explore, which are just tiny spits of land. If you want proximity to the city, visit the main island of Efate (home to Port Vila), or the largest Espiritu Santo island (home to Luganville). Many other islands have towns and villages around them as well.

Whichever of the islands your choose to visit, you will find your Vanuatu island hopping an amazing experience.

How to Manage a Restaurant – Labor Cost

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Labor Cost Awareness

Controlling your labor cost is one of the most important factors in managing your business.

Chances are if you do not monitor your labor you are most likely losing revenue.

What is prime cost?

Prime cost is the total cost of goods sold, gross labor cost for all of your employees, which includes payroll, payroll taxes, worker’s comp, medical insurance and other employee benefits. For a fast food or casual F&B facility, a good benchmark for prime cost is 60% or less of F&B revenue.

Learning what the prime cost in your restaurant should be at the top of your to do list.

Do you know the labor cost formula?

Payroll divided by total sales = labor percent

The average labor percent in most restaurants should be at 20 to 25% for hourly employees and 10% for management.

Upscale restaurant will have a higher labor percent. The menu sales mix, quality of food and service, pricing and hours of operation will impact your food and labor cost percentages.

How to maintain a good labor cost percentage?

Train your management staff on how to effectively monitor your employees.

It all starts with creating the restaurant schedule

Don’t just schedule employees to fill in the shifts, schedule enough employees to accommodate your guest in exceptional service.

Create a sensible schedule that makes sense. Have management keep a managers log in the office; make sure to enter sales figures that went over the projected sales.

Community events play a huge factor as well. See if you can get a school calendar to keep you informed of school plays and other events.

Know what’s happening in the neighborhood such as:

  • Concerts
  • Plays
  • Musicals
  • Sporting events
  • Know the theater show times, what time do they let out?

Chamber of Commerce: The Chamber of Commerce is an excellent way to find out what’s happening in your area. Search for your state or local Chamber of Commerce, there are all kinds of events posted on their community board.

Supermarkets are a great way to know what’s happening in your neighborhood.

How can I keep my labor percentages down?

  • Proper staff training: The better the training the less of a change of mistakes or errors. Make sure you have a great training program. Train the trainers is a great way to show the trainers what’s expected of them. In each positions there should be an assigned person training the staff members, each trainer needs to be properly trained on-hand and administered quizzes. The trainers should not be training your employees unless they demonstrate skills and learning techniques, these employees need to train your employees the way you want them trained. Management needs to monitor the training to ensure it is done properly.
  • Cross Training: Cross train dishwashers on the fryer station or busing tables. Host or Hostesses can assist servers with drink orders or running food to the guest. Prep cooks can be crossed trained as a cook. The point is during peak times you can move employees around in different positions when sales are higher than normal or if the servers are in the weeds. Cross trained employees can handle multiple positions during off-peak times, that way you can have minimum employees on during the slow periods.
  • Proficient employees: Training the staff on how to do their job in the best way possible will create the WOW EFFECT as long as they are consistent and proficient.
  • Correctly managing shifts: Who trains the managers? – Owners need to be involved in the everyday operation of their restaurant. There are several ways to train management. When searching for a manager for your restaurant, make sure they have previous experience and that reference checks are done. Either the owner can train the employee or you can seek a restaurant consultant that trains staff members either by on-hand training or via the internet. Once the management staff has been trained properly then they can train the rest of the staff on how to provide WOW service to each of your guest.
  • Know what your labor percent is on the hour: Owners or Management need to know where they stand on labor percentage by the hour. You can retrieve your restaurant sales by doing a reading on the Point of Sale (POS), the same goes for labor dollars. Then you divide payroll dollars by total sales = labor percent. A good bench mark for labor would be 20 to 25% for hourly employees and 10% for management. If you use a paper check system because you don’t have a POS then keep track of your sales and labor by the hour. Create a sales and labor log so that you can record sales and labor. Both the owner or management can tally up the figures or use the hostess to tally up the guest checks by the hour and management can retrieve the labor dollars. Remember do not cut the employees before any meal period. Servers will try to convince management to cut the floor because they will make more money, there needs to be enough staff on to accommodate your guest in exceptional service. During the tail end of any meal period management needs to give direction to the staff in regards to their side-work and the closing of their assigned areas. These staff members need to be off the clock on time – do not let them milk the clock – it is your money that is being wasted.
  • Do not over staff the restaurant: Over staffing the restaurant would be very costly. If you do over staff employees make sure you react quickly in sending employees home early if the sales are not happening.
  • How do you create a sensible schedule? Know what your projected labor dollars are and divide it by last week’s sales or use a rolling sales dollar figure.
  • Rolling Sales: Add up the previous last three weeks of restaurant sales and divide it by 3.

Example: If you are in Week four, then add up Week one ($1552.00) Week two ($1932.00) and Week three ($2405.00) = $5889.00. Divide labor dollars $1300.00 by Sales $5889 =22%.Use the 22% to guide you in creating a sensible schedule.

After you create a schedule, if the projected labor goes over 25% then you need to make adjustments. If the percentage is under 20% then you can add more hours to the schedule.