Team Denmark visits for dual career information exchange

TASS has joined forces with Team Denmark, the organisation who support more than 1,000 elite Danish athletes, to share knowledge and resources in the area of dual career.

Team Denmark works alongside the country’s 28 Sport Federations with the mission to create the optimal environment for elite athletes to pursue sport and education.

And the government organisation has now connected with TASS with the aim to develop support for talented athletes through the exploration of the TASS lifestyle service and the dual career structure in England.

The two bodies got together last week as a part of an information exchange visit held at University of Birmingham, which is also one of the Delivery Sites in the Scheme’s network.

Organised by TASS, the two-day event saw Team Denmark delegates, as well as representatives from Danish universities and elite sport municipalities, benefit from a varied programme of speakers from University of Birmingham, British Athletics and British Rowing.

In return, experts from Team Demark including CEO Lone Hansen and Magnus Wonsyld who is Head of Dual Career Programmes, shared their experiences with the British delegates in attendance.

Talented rower and postgraduate International Politics student James Robson also gave his perspective as a current TASS athlete on the dual career support available in England.

Team Denmark’s Magnus Wonsyld said: “Sharing knowledge and experiences with TASS provided us with some valuable ideas to strengthen our collaboration with the Danish universities and implement part of the TASS lifestyle service.

“The trip also inspired us to reflect over our own models for dual career.”

TASS Network Manager, Craig Williams, added: “In TASS’ strive to be expert leads in dual career, we’re always open to opportunities to learn from our European partners.

“Despite significant differences in the structure of academia between Denmark and the UK it was really useful to discuss and share potential solutions to our dual challenges.

“It was also of particular interest to learn of the Government Act on academic flexibility in Denmark and how this forms the backbone of partnerships between Team Denmark and academic institutions to facilitate their approach to dual career.”