Coaching Female Athletes: USA Cycling Course

For too long, many have coached women by making educated guesses. This online course, “Coaching Female Athletes,” will help you coach women more effectively by applying findings from research and tapping experts with years of experience coaching female athletes.

You’ll discover how to:

• Understand how menstrual cycles, perimenopause, and menopause impact strength, recovery, and adaptation—and how to adjust training for each.
• Use simple nutrition strategies to support female physiology—including when to increase carbohydrates, boost protein, and manage GI issues.
• Build resilience and trust, using clear communication to help athletes navigate comparison, negative self-talk, and life challenges like balancing training and parenting.
• Identify and address red flags like low energy availability (LEA) and relative energy deficiency (RED-S) to protect your athletes’ health and avoid setbacks.
• Decode wearable data through a female-specific lens and avoid common mistakes from male-derived metrics.

From understanding hormonal impacts to optimizing fueling and mindset, this course gives coaches everything they need to help female athletes thrive—and to coach with confidence, clarity, and care.

Whether you’re coaching juniors, elites, or mom-athletes balancing it all, this course shows you exactly how to meet them where they are — and help them reach their potential.

How to Enroll

All USA Cycling courses are offered exclusively through USA Cycling’s online learning management system at learn.usacycling.org.

Questions? Contact Suzy Sanchez, Director of DEI and Membership Programs, at ssanchez@usacycling.org.