Kristen Dieffenbach, PhD, is an associate professor of athletic coaching education at West Virginia University. She earned her doctorate in exercise science with an emphasis in exercise and sport psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is the president of the United States Center for Coaching Excellence and has served as a member of the executive board of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). She also serves on the research committee for the International Council for Coaching Excellence.Dieffenbach’s areas of educational, research, and consultation concentration include coaching education, professional issues in coaching, ethics in coaching, performance enhancement, and long-term athlete talent development. She has worked on numerous grants, projects, and consultations in these areas for the U.S. Olympic Committee, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, United States Tennis Association, USA Cycling, USA Hockey, USA Triathlon, U.S. Paralympics, USA Swimming, USA Water Polo, Peaks Coaching Group, and Carmichael Training Systems.Dieffenbach has published research articles in scientific journals, authored and co-authored numerous book chapters, and written for applied publications such as Olympic Coach, VeloNews, and Dirt Rag. She has also served as an expert panelist for the Outdoor Life Network and for publications such as Runner’s World, Performance Conditioning for Cycling, Backpacker, Bicycling, and Adventure Sports.Together with Steve McCauley, Dieffenbach co-authored Bike Racing for Juniors, a book for coaches, parents, and young cyclists. She has also written or co-authored chapters for U.S. Tennis, USA Cycling, and the U.S. Marine Corps. As an AASP-certified consultant, Dieffenbach works with a wide range of athletes and coaches as a consultant and educator.As a coach, she holds an elite-level USA Cycling license and has earned a level 2 endurance specialization from USA Track and Field. She has coached at the high school, collegiate, and elite levels. Currently, she coaches both semi-professional and professional road cyclists, mountain bikers, and adventure racers. She specializes in working with junior and Espoir elite athletes, and she runs a mountain bike development camp for USA Cycling.A former Division I runner and road cyclist, Dieffenbach now enjoys endurance and ultra-endurance multi-sport racing. She specializes in 24-to-72-hour adventure racing events.Melissa Thompson, PhD, is an associate professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she has coordinated the sport coaching education program since 2008. She instructs sport psychology and sport coaching courses at the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels. She was appointed director of student-athlete development for the university’s athletic department when the program was established in 2017.Thompson is a board member of the United States Center for Coaching Excellence. She is certified by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, the International Council for Coaching Excellence, and the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and she is a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee Sport Psychology Registry and several other organizations. She previously served on the national sport steering committee for SHAPE America as the coaching representative, a position that allowed her to co-author the alliance position statement on minimum levels of coaching education for all levels of sport. Her publications, in both scholarly and trade journals, are focused on coach development and are a combination of empirical research and application-based articles.From 2007 through 2008, Thompson served as a lead graduate teaching assistant at Florida State University, where she earned her doctorate of philosophy in educational psychology with an emphasis in sport psychology. She received her master of science degree in kinesiology from Georgia Southern University, where she also served as an assistant softball coach. Thompson was a member of the women’s softball team at Rockford University (Illinois), where she graduated magna cum laude with a double major in psychology and elementary education.
