The Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme, or TASS as it is better known, is a Government funded programme that represents a unique partnership between talented young athletes, National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGB’s) and the Higher (University) and Further (college/school) Education sector. TASS aims to help its athletes to balance academic life with training and competition as a performance athlete.
The programme was established in 2003 by the then Secretary of State, the Right Honourable Tessa Jowell MP, Department of Culture Media and Sport. Since 2004, when the first TASS awards were made, the scheme has invested over £24million into athletes and the supporting network around them, providing up to 6000 awards enabling thousands of talented athletes to fulfil their sporting potential and become medal winners of the future.
The impact of TASS’s investment was already evident at the Beijing Olympic/Paralympic Games in 2008, where TASS Athletes and Alumni won 19 medals (15 at the Olympics, four at the Paralympics). Two years later at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, the only GB medallist was TASS Alumna Amy Williams, and 55 TASS supported Athletes and Alumni won 85 medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
The scheme is also getting worldwide recognition with TASS now advising the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the development of its Education Section for their Athlete Career Programme (ACP), which included a presentation at the IOC ACP Forum to over 30 National Olympic Committee.
