At the 2025 Female Athlete Conference, one early message came through loud and clear: we’ve made progress in understanding female athlete health and performance, but we’re still far from where we need to be.
We know that investing in women’s sports pays off as 94% of women in executive leadership roles played sports at some point in their lives. But the science supporting female athletes? Still catching up.
🧠 Mind the Gap
Right now, only 6% of sport and exercise science research focuses solely on women–and we learned that just 3% of that is centered on aspects of performance. The majority? Injury-focused.
And even when good research does exist, there’s another hurdle: it takes an average of 17 years for new evidence to influence clinical practice. It’s no wonder so many coaches, clinicians, and support staff are hungry for tools and insights on female athlete health and performance they can use now.
🧪 But There’s Momentum
One of the most exciting developments announced early in the conference: the creation of the Women’s Health, Sport & Performance Institute. Its mission?
“To inspire, educate, and convene researchers (or maybe it should be researcHERS?), clinicians, and the broader sports community to drive advancements in our understanding of female athlete health and performance. Share discoveries globally to improve care practices, reshape the culture of women’s sports, and ultimately transform the state of women’s health overall.”
It’s a bold and necessary step–and one that signals forward progress is not only possible but is still needed and valued. And that progress isn’t just institutional–it’s cultural. At USA Gymnastics, we learned change is already underway. Even when new approaches meet resistance, there are inspiring and powerful examples of what’s possible when leaders commit to doing better.
🤝 “Yes, And…” Not “We Already Know”
Olympian Clara Hughes keynote offered a powerful and insightful reminder that the strength of women’s sports lies not just in competition, but in community & a focus on lifting each other up.
Couldn’t help but think: instead of tearing each other down or rushing to be right (or front and center), what if we embraced curiosity and co-learning? What if we used a little more “yes, and…” and a little less “we already know”?
Because the reality is: we really don’t know. And saying that is not a weakness, it’s an ginormous opportunity.
🏃♀️ Supporting the Whole Athlete
A holistic, team-based approach to athlete care was emphasized again and again–nutrition, sports psychology, physical therapy, medicine, and coaching all working together.
This is a key driver of why Nutrify Performance is evolving beyond nutrition guidance to include health coaching and we continue to actively work on building our referral network to better support the women we serve.
🌱 What’s Next
These are just some early takeaways. What’s giving us hope? A shared sense of purpose–and a growing commitment to better support female athletes in all their strength and complexity.
More updates and insights from the #2025FAC are coming soon so stay tuned!
