On University Mental Health Day we are proud to announce The Louis Carr Memorial Award, which will be awarded to a TeamUCL sports club annually for commitment to the welfare of club members and increasing student awareness of mental health.
Louis Carr was a first-year member of UCL Men’s Football Club (UCLFC) in the 2018-2019 academic year. An exceptionally popular member of the society, Louis was involved in all aspects of the club’s activities, playing for the club every week and always being one of the liveliest members at socials. He was also one of the leading fundraisers during the club’s 2018 Movember campaign, aiming to raise funds for mental health charities. Unfortunately, during this month, Louis lost the battle with his mental health and tragically took his own life.
In Louis’s memory, his Movember campaign would go on to raise over £15,000, as donations flooded in from hundreds of people from across the world affected by his story. Over the past two years, UCLFC raised over £20,000 for Movember, hosted the first and second Louis Carr Memorial tournaments and held a mental health talk for members of sports clubs, at which a variety of speakers spoke about their work and struggles with mental health issues. Recently, the club ran a twenty-mile relay race across London in aid of various mental health charities, raising £10,000 in the process.
Representatives from UCLFC have worked alongside elected sports representatives from the Students' Union’s Activities Zone to establish The Louis Carr Memorial Award. The award will celebrate the fantastic work taking place within TeamUCL sports clubs to promote positive mental well-being and support the welfare of club members. The award will be presented to a sports club annually and nomination criteria focus on demonstrating the efforts a sports club has made towards promoting the welfare of its members.
The development of this welfare-focused award follows on from other important student-led initiatives including the addition of elected welfare officers within all clubs and societies, the creation of the Club and Society Welfare Fund and the delivery of Student Minds Mental Health in Sport Training.
The winning club will be announced at the TeamUCL Sports Awards on Thursday 4 June.