THURSDAY evening saw the region’s latest crop of elite athletes come together for the first time, in an academic webinar set up by the university and TASS to highlight the work being done by the organisation in the development of their careers.<\/p>\n
TASS, the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme, is a task scheme funded by the National Governing Bodies of sport, and picks up 90 per cent of the nation’s talented student athletes \u2013 the remaining 10% going to uni systems like MMU\u2019s scholar scheme. MMU \u2013 one of 37 TASS delivery sites \u2013 has been involved in the task scheme since 2009, and according to the university’s Performance Sports Manager J\u00e9r\u00f4me Read the system is just getting better.<\/p>\n
J\u00e9r\u00f4me said: \u201cWe\u2019ve been building a platform for the university to be a go-to place for elite up-and-coming athletes, and it’s vital the university understands the need for performance sports to be front and centre.<\/p>\n
“Our scheme allows the athletes to develop as a person as well as performance. There\u2019s a value and worth in allowing people to develop in life alongside sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
With help from TASS, the university will provide a number of training services in sectors such as Strength and Conditioning, Physiotherapy, Personal Development and more. With such a diverse number of sports and sportspeople on offer \u2013 variety in service and facilitation is a necessity.<\/p>\n
2020\/21\u2019s scheme will see a number of sports being represented by their talents respectively, such as; fencing\u2019s Alexandra Powell, para-football\u2019s Azeem Amir and Liam Spinks, netball\u2019s Savannah Dada-Mascoll, Stacey Tankoua and Berri Neil, basketball\u2019s Omari Smith, Jayden Martin, Jordan Whelan and Josh Lloyd, snowsports\u2019 Rob Holmes, swimming’s Katie Matts, Jamie Ingram, Sam Budd and Amy Davies, women\u2019s football\u2019s Khiara Keating and Mia Ross and wheelchair basketball\u2019s Tyler Baines.<\/p>\n
Later in the event, future England Rose hopeful and current England u17 netballer Stacey Tankoua reflected on the opportunities and support being given to her. She said: \u201cIt\u2019s been a bit crazy, especially with how it started out, and I\u2019m just 16 still. It\u2019s been a crazy journey. I\u2019m definitely glad I have a team that will get the best out of me, given the fact they\u2019re able to understand the reasons behind my development.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fencer Alexandra Powell, who has seen her training affected by the COVID outbreak, is looking forward to what the scheme will bring. She highlighted the impact close relationships formed within the scheme will have on her progression. She said: \u201cIt\u2019s been quite a difficult few months with COVID, not being able to train at all. I was meant to go to the World Championships in America in March but that didn\u2019t go ahead, so my aim for this year is to get to the university games if they go ahead. So it\u2019s absolutely amazing, to be honest, to be part of something where everyone else is also working towards similar goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pictured: Fencer Alex Powell at the 2019 World Championships in Toru\u0144, Poland (courtesy of Alex Powell)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THURSDAY evening saw the region’s latest crop of elite athletes come together for the first time, in an academic webinar set up by the university…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1228,"featured_media":4777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4974,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n