Support for sports scholars

TASS is a Sport England-funded partnership between talented athletes, institutions and national governing bodies. It provides support to the country’s most exciting young talent, helping young athletes who are over 16 and in education to get the best of their sporting and academic careers - without having to choose between the two.

We are one of 38 delivery sites in England and are supporting athletes in netball, rugby league, fencing, swimming, hockey, taekwondo and wrestling.

Athletes are placed at delivery sites by TASS every year, with NTU regularly supporting Manchester Met students and those from other universities in areas such as strength and conditioning, physiotherapy, nutrition, psychology and lifestyle, as well as gaining access to a very generous medical support scheme.

We have the TASS Dual Career Accreditation, recognising the support to our student–athletes and covering our commitment to provide an institution-wide dual career policy. 

As part of this, Manchester Met will support talented athletes with access to online lectures, resources and notes, and planning sessions with academic advisors to create an appropriate academic timeline. 

We do all we can to give athletes maximum flexibility when it comes to their study programmes, such as:

• opportunities to move seminar/lecture groups (where possible)
• flexible deadlines for assignments (when agreed in advance)
• catch-up sessions with lecturers
• and, where possible, the option to offer an uneven split of credits in the academic year

Athletes are nominated to be part of the TASS programme through their national governing body.

If you have any questions about TASS, please email p.cook@mmu.ac.uk.

Matchday Live is an innovative experiential learning partnership involving MMU Sport, the School of Digital Arts and the RISE programme.

You can watch our students in action or even help direct, produce and broadcast the games on our YouTube channel.

Join us to support our teams and see our students’ talent, dedication and hard work for yourself.

Experience the energy, passion and professionalism of Matchday Live on our YouTube channel.

Our clean sport commitment

MMU Sport adopts the UK Anti-Doping and World Anti-Doping Agency position that doping in sport is fundamentally against the spirit of sport. 

We aim to protect clean sport so athletes can compete on a level playing field. Our commitments include:

• Supporting the mission of UK Anti-Doping and World Anti-Doping Agency in achieving a doping-free sporting environment.
• Expecting our athletes to train and compete in line with the spirit of sport, including the anti-doping rules.
• Expecting our coaches and athlete support personnel to act with the spirit of sport, including the anti-doping rules.
• Upholding any sanctions of an athlete or support personnel by UK Anti-Doping under the World Anti-Doping Code.
• Taking appropriate action on identified breaches. 

Employed and associated staff will not condone or support prohibited substances and methods, unless permitted by a therapeutic use exemption. If athletes are using or considering a prohibited substance or method, UK Anti-Doping should be informed.

How we support clean sport

We are committed to educating students about clean sport so they are prepared to train and compete clean. This support is offered to MMU Sport scholars, club members and coaches, as well as TASS athletes.

Olympian Jonny Browlee explains the importance of clean sport.

MMU Sport’s Head of Development Phil Cook:

MMU Sport will put into place, support and promote the clean sport policies of UK Anti-Doping and the World Anti-Doping Agency.

We’re committed to educating our athletes, coaches and athlete support staff. We instil in them the values, attitudes and beliefs of clean sport, so that we can keep all our sport clean.

We will protect the ethos, integrity and spirit of sport, in part through our clean sport policy.

We will inspire, support and enable student-athletes to be the very best they can be. They will celebrate this success in the knowledge that it was achieved honestly and fairly.”

Contact

For more information, get in touch with the University’s anti-doping point of contact, Chloe Golding - Performance Sport Officer at c.golding@mmu.ac.uk

We have partnered with Sporting Wellness to provide representative sports people aged 16 or over with free, professional, mental health support.

We believe that every representative sportsperson should have access to robust, mental health support to give them the best chance at sporting success.

We are also dedicated to creating a parity between mental and physical health in sport, with mental wellness being just as important as physical fitness.

Areas covered:

• mental and emotional health: anxiety, depression, stress, low mood, and eating disorders
• legal guidance: landlord and tenant, motoring offences and consumer rights
• financial guidance: budgeting, financial calculator and debt management plans
• relationship issues
• bereavement and loss
• social media use
• alcohol use
• quitting smoking
• phone and cyber-bullying
• sleep

To register and access the support, go to the Sporting Wellness website. Enter SW003 in the stakeholder code box to sign up for free.