High school strength coaches often grapple with the question of whether to prioritize short-term (transactional) success or long-term (transformational) personal growth in student-athletes, and rightly so. Competing agendas at play within school districts and sports programs can muddy the waters of intent.
Which is more important to parents, the district, the community and student-athletes? More wins or better citizens? These questions are central to the discussion around transactional vs. transformational coaching.
Rick Sneade is Head Football Coach at Calvert High School in Prince Frederick, Md. He is aso their Director of Strength and Performance. A renowned high school football coach, Sneade believes in the power of big-picture transformational coaching over the smaller-picture, transactional mindset. It has been a guiding principle over the last few years as the district, sports programs, parents and students struggled through the impact of COVID-19.
Transformational Coaching: Fostering Success In Athletics And Beyond
Sneade emphasizes that while expertise in football and strength training is essential to attracting student-athletes to the football program and locking up Ws on Friday nights, this proficiency is not his top priority. Instead, he believes that coaches should prioritize the growth and development of their athletes as human beings.
Transactional coaching, which focuses on gaining an edge through training and immediate results, can lead to significant oversights. Sneade offers a simple example whereby a coach’s lack of preparedness for inclement weather — something that rarely impacts strength coaching but is nonetheless important to a program’s overall safety — could compromise the health and safety of athletes. During the dark days of COVID-19, when mask protocols were universal, if inclement weather hit during a football game, the old protocols demanded coaches take athletes to the locker room until the lightning was gone. But what was to be done under the new constraints?
“If you’re focusing on how you can gain an edge through training and, and you’re only focused on that, and all of a sudden you didn’t prepare for different nuances, you can get derailed by something as simple as inclement weather,” says Sneade. “You can’t put 50 or 60 people in a weight room under COVID protocols. If you have a transactional mindset, there is a lot of possibility for some major mistakes. We have to be proficient in all those areas and to have the right mindset.
In contrast, transformational coaching prioritizes the development of each athlete’s character and life skills, fostering long-term success beyond the high school years. Sneade recognizes that for most student athletes, their high school football careers will amount to just 80 hours of game time, or four days of their lives. He argues that no coach can justify claiming that such a short period can profoundly impact an athlete’s lifelong character.
“There’s no way any one of us can justifiably say that in those four days, we can make such a significant impact on a young man that he can be the most outstanding father or husband,” says Sneade. “For a transactional coach who just loves Xs & Os — and don’t get me wrong, I do too — they have to understand that coaching is much more important than that. Our relationship and time with the kids is more important than Power and Waggle.”
By adopting a transformational coaching style, coaches can nurture well-rounded athletes who not only excel on the field but also thrive in their personal lives. This approach recognizes that the true value of high school sports lies in fostering a strong sense of community and helping athletes grow into responsible, capable adults.
“We may not have a base talented enough to compete with some teams in our region or our conference, if we’re just going to focus on wins and losses,” says Sneade. “If all you’re focusing on is doing the best you can to help these kids win a football game, that could be very frustrating. But on a greater scale, if we’re talking about a coach’s role and responsibility to his athletes in our program and our community, it’s ultimately trying to help them become the best human beings they can be.”
This is of crucial importance, especially in the wake of the mental health outcry that has emerged post-COVID-19. The raw nerves are in the open and on display as parents, faculty, coaches and student-athletes evaluate what’s important in their lives.
“If your heart is in the right place and you are a transformational coach, and you care more about developing young people for life than you do about how your resume is going to look next year, then you’ve got a greater opportunity now more than ever because kids are vulnerable right now,” says Sneade.
In the world of high school athletics, the choice between transactional and transformational coaching can have a profound impact on student athletes’ futures. By prioritizing personal growth over short-term success, coaches can not only improve their teams’ performance but also foster a generation of responsible, compassionate adults.
It’s a valuable reminder that the most crucial aspect of high school sports is not the number of wins, but the lasting impact they have on athletes’ lives. By embracing a transformational coaching style, high school strength coaches can create a lasting legacy that lives on within the well-rounded student-athletes who contribute positively to their communities after learning from their coaches.
ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE SUPPLIERS WHO CAN HELP
