British university tennis players have been awarded 20 places on the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) for the first time as awards for 2014-15 were announced by Sport England.
TASS is a government funded programme that represents a unique partnership between talented young athletes, National Governing Bodies of Sport and the Higher Education sector in England. It aims to help its athletes to balance academic life with training and competition as a performance athlete.
With the age of top 100 players increasing, university tennis plays an important role in providing a performance programme for players who wish to continue to train at a high level whilst also staying in education and developing other skills.
Guy Taylor, National Scheme Director for TASS said: "We are delighted to be able to confirm that we will be support talented tennis players for this coming year. It is essential that athletes have the opportunity to continue both their studies and sport and we feel this partnership with British tennis will provide a unique opportunity for talented athletes."
Alistair Higham, the Tennis Foundation's Universities Manager and GB Team Manager said: "We are delighted to have been awarded TASS funding for so many players at university. It will provide the players selected with an individualised approach, allowing them to train with excellent sports science support and funding to travel to more professional tournaments."
Andrew Lewandowski, the LTA's Head of Talent Management added:
"Being part of the TASS programme opens up new and exciting opportunities for high performance players emerging from the England Talent Pathway. The significant support and investment from Sport England has enabled our sport to strengthen elements of the pathway and therefore have more players involved in both tennis and education."
There are nine universities with Performance Programmes funded by the Tennis Foundation in partnership with the LTA, with a range of full-time and part-time degrees, as well as different levels of academic entry.
27 universities are also supported by jointly employing University Tennis Coordinators to help more people of all abilities playing and enjoying tennis in higher education.
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