Honoured by Robert Enke Foundation
Mon | 17/07/23 | 11:45
FC Bayern receives award for "Mental Health Awareness Month“
FC Bayern, along with its educational team at the Campus has been recognised by the Robert Enke Foundation for its "Mental Health Awareness Month" campaign with the "Promotion of Mental Health in Youth Performance Sport" award. The project team of sports psychologists Christian Luthardt, Lorea Urquiaga and Christina Heigl, together with FC Bayern Campus director of sport Halil Altintop accepted the award from the foundation's managing director Jan Baßler on behalf of the educators involved.
FC Bayern as a pioneer
Robert Enke Foundation managing director Jan Baßler presented the award: "Set up an outstanding project."
"We are delighted to have been recognised by the Robert Enke Foundation as one of the award winners," said Luthardt. With "Mental Health Awareness Month" in March 2022, the German record champions, together with Manchester United and Benfica, had sent a signal that mental health and sporting performance are inextricably linked. "Our aim was to raise awareness of this issue among all the people who work in youth performance sport in order to create an environment in which young people can develop their potential in a sustainable and healthy way," Luthardt continued. "We hope that this will also motivate other clubs and associations to address this important issue even more."
Spending an entire month focusing on mental health with international partners shows the Robert Enke Foundation how genuinely and sustainably FC Bayern wants to carry out its tasks in this area.
Jan Baßler, Robert Enke Foundation managing director
The FC Bayern Campus "had set up an outstanding project," said Jan Baßler, managing director of the Robert Enke Foundation, explaining the award: "Spending an entire month focusing on mental health with international partners shows the Robert Enke Foundation how genuinely and sustainably FC Bayern wants to carry out its tasks in this area. We sincerely congratulate Christian Luthardt and the entire team on receiving our "Promotion of Mental Health in Youth Performance Sport" award.
Joint, cross-club mental health month
The project was a joint cross-club mental health month initiated by FC Bayern with Manchester United and Benfica, with the aim of focusing more on the issue of mental health and wellbeing in these clubs as well as beyond in youth performance sport. In particular, the aim was to raise awareness of the importance of a psychologically safe and psychologically informed talent development environment. At the Campus, over 40 workshops were implemented for different target groups - staff, coaches, managers, players and parents. 15 employees received training as mental health first aiders in a two-day course, and there was also an exhibition specially designed for the month with the title "Mental Health Matters". The focus was not only on raising awareness among the young players in the academies, but also on educating the entire player community.
From the Campus, director of sport Halil Altintop and the sports psychologists Christina Heigl, Lorea Urquiaga and Christian Luthardt (from left) accepted the award.
In 2022, all Olympic training centres, performance centres, sports boarding schools and sports clubs were eligible to apply for the award if they had been involved with a project in the context of prevention, diagnosis or treatment of mental health in young athletes. The first placed organisations receive prize money totalling €20,000, which will be donated to social institutions. The board of the Robert Enke Foundation made the decision to award the prize based on the recommendation of an interdisciplinary review committee. The other 2022 award winners are THW Kiel and KSV Holstein Kiel, the Berlin Football Association and the Lower Saxony Olympic Training Centre.
The club magazine paid a visit to the educators at the FC Bayern Campus last year:
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