Research profile

• Education in Psychology (B.Sc.) at the University of Bremen (2013 – 2016) and Psychology in sport and exercise (M.Sc.) at the German Sport University Cologne (2016 – 2019)
• Further training as a Sport Psychological Expert (asp), Systemic Counselor (DGSF) and Systemic Parent Coach

Valeria Eckardt’s research is situated at the intersection of sport psychology and couple-/family psychology. In September 2019, she was awarded a doctoral scholarship of the German Sport University Cologne in the field of life science to pursue her graduate studies. Within her Ph.D., she investigates which situations are perceived as stressful by parents in youth soccer academies and how parents as a couple cope with this sport-specific stress. Her main research interests are parental support in sports, parental stress and coping in sports, dyadic coping, the parent-coach relationship and cooperation/alignment between parents, coaches and sport clubs.

As part of her research projects, she collaborates with youth soccer academies and sports associations in the area of parent management and parent coaching. In cooperation with the Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH (DFL), the results of her work informed policy change in the licensing of the youth academies in Germany. Further, she developed a parent handbook and educational material with Dr. Babett Lobinger for the German Soccer Association (DFB).