Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) and Research at BNU

FIONA MCCORMACK / TASS

The Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) has been providing support for dual career student athletes since 2004, with BNU becoming a delivery site in 2017 to originally support 4 young athletes in our local community. Since then the University has expanded the scheme to provide support for more than twenty young athletes in the community and six of BNU’s own students to ensure that they can be equally successful in their academic and sporting aspirations, working with local partners including Reading Football Club and the Leander Rowing Club. As a result of this experience with TASS the University’s reach has been expanded reach to include elite swimmers through the Performance Centre at Wycombe District Swimming Club (WDSC) and basketball players in partnership with Reading Rockets.

TASS Extra has been created to support research related to young and dual career athletes. TASS has built an archive of research papers in areas such as supporting athlete transitions, wellbeing, mental health, performance lifestyle and athlete welfare. A breakdown of the TASS Research Facts and Figures provide as part of their 2-Year Impact Report 2019 - 2021 is provided over leaf.

The University has played a central role in this research hub through attending research conferences and contributing to important debates, and is delighted to be jointly supporting a PhD study into well-being on the performance pathway by Asshur Sinclair, who already has some exciting plans and is benefiting from co supervision by university staff (Dr Fiona McCormack and Prof Paul Morgan) and TASS research co-ordinator Dr Emma Vickers. In addition, the University is building a strong research base with PhD students researching resilience in women’s football, strength and conditioning approaches for female athletes and the introduction of breaking in the Paris Olympics alongside staff projects in student athlete experiences. The subsequent intention is to develop this research further with student athletes to contribute to the next REF submission.

If you are interested in getting involved in our work or would like to find out more about TASS please contact Dr Fiona McCormack.