TAPS is designed to ensure athletes have the right resources at the right time relative to their stage in their respective sport’s Performance Pathway.
It replaces the previous system of Carded Athletes and Performance Enhancement Grants (PEGs) for athletes.
To be eligible for TAPS an athlete must be from a sport that has been designated by HPSNZ as eligible for TAPS. TAPS may be made available to athletes in Podium Sports, and in specific cases HPSNZ may provide TAPS opportunities to the Aspirational Sports we support.
Support provided to TAPS athletes includes:
- Base Training Grants or Development Grants
- Excellence Grants
- Medical Insurance Premiums
- Access to apply for Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarships.
“The biggest impact [of TAPS] from an athlete’s perspective, is that for so many years there has been a sole focus on having to reach seasonal performance targets at a ‘Pinnacle’ event, year in and year out, to continue to maintain funding and support. Something which has been very challenging, and cutthroat as an athlete, to maintain and guarantee long term funding in a cycle. Funding as an athlete under TAPS provides a lot more security and certainty around the support you receive, and a bigger emphasis put on the athlete’s overall wellbeing and vision towards their end goal.”
Adam Hall, Five-time Winter Paralympic athlete.
Base Training Grants or Development Grants
A Base Training Grant or Development Grant for eligible pathway athletes is not based on performance and aims to provide a level of financial security and support athlete wellbeing. These are intended as stable and dependable multi-year grants to give athletes a platform to grow their performance across the cycle, and ideally achieve performance levels eligible for Excellence Grants.
Approximately 240-260 High Performance (Probable and Convert) athletes from TAPS eligible sports will be eligible for a Base Training Grant ($32,500 per annum) from 2022-24. It is anticipated that 140-160 HP Potential athletes will be eligible for Development Grants ($11,000 per annum).
Excellence Grants
Excellence Grants (EGs) are grants that recognise an individual’s or team’s performance excellence and are designed to support further performance excellence from them.
Excellence Grants are offered to a Probable or Convert TAPS athlete over and above their Base Training Grant if they achieve an agreed performance standard at their agreed Excellence Grant qualifying event.
Excellence Grants are also stable and dependable multi-year grants to ensure athletes can plan and perform across the cycle with certainty – as well as gain higher Excellence Grants with increased performance.
Medical Insurance Premiums
Taps eligible athletes may also be eligible for fully funded medical insurance.
Access to apply for Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarships
Athletes eligible for TAPS have the opportunity to apply for a Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarship to support educational or professional opportunities that enable them to develop holistically outside sport, in ways that may contribute to their post-athletic career.
For more information about TAPS, please talk to your NSO in the first instance.
