Celebrating its tenth birthday on 13th November, the Talented Athlete Sponsorship Scheme (TASS) has provided crucial support for many UK sporting hopefuls.
To mark the event, London 2012 Paralympic silver medallist Andy Lapthorne (one of the beneficiaries from the TASS programme) was one of nine athletes showcased on a special birthday card.
British Tennis and TASS have enjoyed a productive partnership since 2004. In total 84 tennis players have been helped by TASS to the tune of an estimated half a million pounds. Typically support includes equipment purchase, access to physiotherapy, strength and conditioning and coaching support amongst other elements.
"I was very grateful to have TASS funding when first starting out in my career as it helped me to play tennis full-time, rather than having to work at the same time," said Lapthorne. "When I started playing tournaments, I had extra costs like travel and accommodation and I was very lucky to get funding from TASS and the Tennis Foundation when I first started playing on the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour."
Andy was born in 1990 with cerebral palsy and it wasn't until he was 13 that he first picked up a tennis racket. His talent was spotted at a Tennis Foundation wheelchair tennis camp in 2005.
After enjoying a successful junior career, the left-hander earned his senior world ranking at the end of 2008 and was awarded support from TASS to assist him as he made a bid for success on the senior circuit. He didn't have to wait long as he teamed up with Paralympic legend Peter Norfolk to win the quad doubles at the Florida Open.
Ten career singles titles and 12 further doubles titles have followed, including the Australian Open quad doubles in 2011 and 2012. Lapthorne went on to win a London 2012 Paralympic Games silver medal in the quad doubles with Norfolk.
Andy concluded, "I was very young when I started playing tennis professionally and the TASS funding helped me to decide to carry on with it as a career and not just give up. I've now got a Paralympic silver medal, won Grand Slam titles and am currently world No.3 and hope to go a lot further with my career and win even more."
Guy Taylor, National Director of TASS said, "We are delighted to have the opportunity to celebrate our 10th birthday at such a splendid location as the Houses of Parliament and hosted by Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson. TASS began in the autumn of 2003 when names like London 2012 medallists Liam Heath and Jon Schofield were in the first batch of Award recipients. Since then TASS has given over £30 million in support to over 6,000 athletes across 50 sports."
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