Fierce competitor dreams of fairytale finish

Featured image: Michael Farnell @sportsimageryau

There might have been no fiercer competitor than Shani Amos the last 17 years so retiring from NBL1 West was a big call, but given it's best for her two sons helped and she hopes to go out with a Rockingham Flames fairytale.

There's precious little Amos hasn’t achieved in her basketball journey that began at the Joondalup (then Wanneroo) Wolves in 2009 as a tenacious and crafty point guard just turning 18 that year and has now spanned 332 games across the SBL and NBL1 West.

She spent four years playing in the WNBL along the way with the Perth Lynx (then West Coast Waves) and in the SBL she won a championship with the Wolfpack in 2013, was part of the West Coast Classic winning squad of 2020, and then was a key Rockingham piece in the 2024 NBL1 West triumph.

As the ultimate competitor, Amos still hopes there's one more championship to come with the Flames hosting the Warwick Senators at Mike Barnett Sports Complex now on Saturday night with a place in next Saturday's Grand Final at RAC Arena the reward on offer.

But beyond basketball, Amos has become the mother to sons Samuel and Benji, and while she loves sharing her basketball experience with them on NBL1 game nights, in the end as they grow up, the biggest factor in deciding to now retire at the end of 2026 is to make sure they always come first.

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Amos continues to be playing at a high level too and on a Rockingham team full of superstars including Teige Morrell, Amy Atwell and Sara Puckett, she has been the glue that has kept it all together along with co-captain Paris Duffield who recently celebrated her 200-game milestone.

While her body will enjoy the break from playing at NBL1 level, it's not necessarily banged up to the point she had to stop playing. And her form suggests there's no reason she can't continue going either.

But the 35-year-old knew that at some point she had to stop with the huge commitment it takes to travel from Bassendean to Rockingham multiple times a week, and to have her weekends occupied by basketball, and that's why the retirement decision has come now.

"I didn't really know that this would really be it and I didn't really have that sense of sadness yet even when I started to tell people," Amos said.

"I feel like I didn’t even think it was real myself and I just felt I had to tell as many people as I could otherwise I'd probably never step away from the game, but it's a strange feeling.

"Basketball has always had my full heart and it's not been a choice for me, and then when I had kids it obviously took a backward step to them.

"The choices that I had to make surrounding to keep playing basketball was still to put their best interests above basketball, and I've sort of toed the line with both.

"I just think that it's time now that I prioritise their needs over my love of the game. Even as I speak about it, the fact that I won't come around and play again next year will hit home more when the signings start to happen and the teams start pre-season."

Believing in a fairytale ending

Fairytales don't happen too often in sport and the higher the level you go, the rarer they become, but the reality is that Amos is only two Rockingham wins away from that dream finish to her career.

She knows all about celebrating championships having won already at the Wolves and Flames, but to think about getting to celebrate with her sons knowing it's her last game at RAC Arena next Saturday would be what dreams are made of.

While that's all true, Amos doesn't want to get too ahead of herself because she's fully aware that the Warwick Senators, East Perth Eagles and Cockburn Cougars still stand in their way and have the same ambitiions.

"Because I've been there before and two years ago we won it, and it was incredible, I have had a few people say to me that it would have been the perfect time to retire then," Amos said.

"I agree and it was such a magical time, but what brought me back was not the chase for another championship but the people, club, community, family and all those things that are so important.

"I have had a few thoughts over the last few days since we won that game that this would be pretty exciting if we went and won on Saturday, and what that would mean to get to take my boys to RAC again and get to enjoy that moment with them. That would be the pinnacle most definitely.

"But it's a funny place to sit because I don't want to have so many expectations on that where if we don't make it that it would discredit what we've done. So I just kinda go with the flow, but 100 per cent standing in RAC win or lose knowing that's where my career ended would be an incredible thing."

Having that celebration at first final

After the Flames finished the regular season in second position at 16-4, there was a chance that when they hosted the East Perth Eagles in the qualifying final on Saturday night that it would be a lost home game for 2026.

That meant a potential last game at Mike Barnett Sports Complex for Amos as well and while that hasn’t panned out with them winning to see them host Warwick now in a preliminary final, the club made it a fitting tribute to Amos' career.

She was able to run out onto the court with her two sons and then actually had a chance to reflect a little bit on what her career has meant to so many people even if the emotions didn’t fully hit until she got in the car afterwards with new partner Brad and started to make the drive home.

"That meant so much and I think on the night I probably didn’t fully enjoy it and let it sink in just because we had a game to worry about," Amos said.

"It's also not the most comfortable space for me to be celebrated like that and to me I've just played and respected the game because I love it, and then whatever comes from that, is something I've taken fruit from.

"But I guess I have seen my career through my eyes and you don't stop to think about how you might be perceived by other people or how your career might have impacted others in some way.

"So I think that was a pretty humbling experience and Duffield spoke very nicely of me and to me, and that meant a lot even some of the comments she made at our awards night make you stop and realise that it hasn’t just been about me.

"Sometimes you can affect other people just by them watching you. So it was an incredible night and to have my boys there that's what I always dream of to play the game and to have them coming to watch mum.

"I honestly think they felt like all the celebrations were for them and they loved running through the arch and coming through that with me.

"They have grown up their whole lives watching mum play basketball and be respected in the community, and I think that's invaluable for them. I'm glad they were there to close the chapter with me and we'll walk into something else."

Everything might be for the last time

The reality is that everything Amos is now doing on a basketball front could be for the last time. Last Saturday night could have been the last home game and now this Saturday absolutely will be.

If Saturday night doesn’t go to plan, she could have completed a last week of practice. This Saturday could be her last game day to prepare for.

Or if things go to plan, Sunday could be her last recovery with a game ahead of her. Then this whole week could be going through preparations for a Grand Final one last time.

And then it could finish at RAC Arena next Saturday.

While that's all the reality of the situation, Amos isn't in the space to think of it like that and is focused on just the job still at hand.

"I haven't really thought about it like that and a few times I have stopped and thought this might be the last time I do something, but I've always approached basketball with the mentality that I'm super happy if I just get to tie up my shoes and get to play another game," Amos said.

"I've been saying that since I had my kids because I know how much work that took and I knew that it wasn’t a given that I could ever play again.

"In my role as captain, I always share to our team how lucky and humbled we are to put on our shoes to play this game at any stage so I don't think I have that mentality of it being the last time I do anything.

"There's every chance every game now could be my last, but I just feel grateful for whenever I get to play and if it's the last one, I think in reflection I might feel like that, but until then I'm very much a do-first person and make sure I enjoy every moment and don't dwell too much on it."

Getting to retire on own terms

The other good thing about Amos retiring when she is will always be knowing that she still has something left in the tank.

There's no reason physically that she couldn’t continue playing and her body, as sore as it might be, could still keep going and then in terms of her role, she's still playing a crucial piece on a Rockingham team two wins from a championship.

Her leadership, her ball handling and running of the team, and her ever-tenacious defence, all have played a key role in Rockingham hosting a preliminary final this Saturday night.

Knowing she's still playing well and isn’t retiring because she's fallen off the perch will always be a nice feeling.

"I think it's my choice and in the last four years I've probably had a few opportunities where I could have been forced away from the game and it wouldn’t have been my choice," Amos said.

"So I'm glad that I've had some people who helped make sure that didn’t and one of my coaches always said that you get to write your own story, and your own ending.

"I think that is what's good about me making this choice to walk away and I did manage to get really fit this year and a lot of work goes into that to get my body in the position that it's in today.

"I respect that, but also there's a bit of power to walk away from something when you're not forced to and I'm glad that I get to have made this choice."

Becoming a coach one day

If there was any player destined to become a coach one day because of the way she plays as a point guard, the way she sees the game and the way she has always been an inspirational and insightful captain, then it's Amos.

To have also been through the adversity of having two children and the complications of that meaning she was told playing again wouldn’t be possible, she's overcome great adversity and would have tremendous empathy.

She does think coaching would be in her future, but not immediately.

"When I was younger I said there was 100 per cent no way I'd ever coach and that might have been quite arrogant as a player, but now reflecting, absolutely I would," Amos said.

"I think being captain for so long and being a point guard, you are in that role naturally anyway as an extension as the coach out on the court.

"I'd like to very much see what it's like on the other side but before that, I need a little bit of a break first.

"But to come back and put another female coach into the league would be really important and all those years that I've done playing and giving all that as a role model, I'd like to still be that point of contact for girls in the league wherever that may be. So hopefully that's something in my future."

Looking ahead to life beyond basketball

Now if Amos lets herself fast forward to this next year and suddenly basketball isn’t taking up such a huge part of her life, she's excited about what having that extra time might open up for her and family.

"I think just having the chance to take the boys and experience things that you miss out on like all sort of important events while you're playing if they fall on game day or weekends," Amos said.

"I'd like to travel with them or I'd like to pick up and go camping or something that involves that my partner and I going on a holiday.

"Or it will just be nice to not miss an important event but it will definitely be strange once pre-season rolls around and you start to see things go out about signings and the team, and you're not intrinsically involved in that.

"I have felt that before when I was pregnant and had my children, but at least then I knew I was going back at some stage so that will be different. But there's so much to gain from outside of that and I'm excited to see what I will do with that time whatever it may be."