She has won NBL1 West championships, played WNBL and remains Rockingham Flames captain, but it's rediscovering her identity through basketball after becoming a mother of two that Shani Amos is most proud of ahead of game 300.

Amos has achieved an enormous amount in her playing career that started back when the league was called the SBL and the Joondalup Wolves were still known as Wanneroo when she was just turning 18 back in 2009.

From there, she would go on to play in a championship at the Wolfpack in 2013, she was captain still in the West Coast Classic championship season of 2020 and she spent four seasons playing in the WNBL at the then West Coast Waves before they reverted to the Perth Lynx.

Amos still remembers playing with mothers back on those early Wolves teams but it was only when she gave birth to her own children, sons Samuel and Benji, and then tried to return to basketball that she fully understood what a feat it was.

If the physical toll wasn’t enough where Amos was told she'd be lucky to ever run again let alone play basketball, it was an emotional journey for her to not only deal with being a mother, but then more recently also dealing with being a single mother.

It might have been easy for someone with less strength of character to think dedicating the time it takes to travel from the Perth hills to train and play in Rockingham, and to have the full commitment to play with the Flames still was too much.

But for Amos, it was the opposite and it was basketball that continues to be her sanctuary and that's why winning the championship with Rockingham last year at RAC Arena meant so much and why she continues to play in 2025 with the Flames as captain in 2025.

Now this Saturday night she reaches her 300th game and it's only fitting it will be against the Wolves who the Flames will host at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

Reflecting on hurdles overcome

You can break Amos' career into two distinct periods. There was the time when basketball was her entire life and she was playing all-year round when with the Wolves in the SBL and then at the Waves in the WNBL.

Then there's the period where Amos was outright told she would never be able to play basketball again in the period of giving birth to her two sons and getting married.

Amos defied the odds to make it back to the NBL1 court at the Wolfpack by 2022 before then making the move to Rockingham in 2024 and being a key member of the championship alongside former Wolves teammates Nes'eya Parker-Williams and Ellyce Ironmonger, and head coach Marcus Wong.

Not only that, but she had done that having found her true identity as a person again while embracing being the best mother she could be to Samuel and Benji, and adjusting to life as a single mother.

Now to reach the 300-game milestone, it's a chance for her to reflect on everything she's overcome with tremendous pride.

"One of the things that saved me ironically enough was having basketball to lean on," Amos said.

"I really struggled even before I split up from the kids' dad. I struggled with who I was after having the kids. I was a very proud and happy mum, but I also missed the part of me that was just Shani.

"A lot of that was basketball Shani so coming back to play allowed me to find out who I was again just as a person rather than as a mother. I am proud of who I am as a mum, but I'm also still Shani as a person on top of that and basketball has helped me realise that.

"People that knew me before the kids have realised I'm still the same person now and I don’t know if I could have managed that if it wasn’t for basketball.

"I was really proud I was able to do that but I'm more proud that basketball was still there for me, and I had played with a lot of mums early in my career and never fully understood the sacrifices they made," she said.

"But that helped me realise I still wanted to have basketball even after having kids, and I hope by me coming back and being a mum to still play, it shows to any of my teammates or girls around the league that there's no reason they can't do that as well."

Meaning of 300 games

Amos is rightfully proud that she will reach the 300-game milestone this Saturday night too when she becomes just the 29th woman in the league to ever do so dating back to 1989.

When she was weighing up whether to play on in 2025 or not following last year's championship triumph with the Flames, she is glad she went on and is doing it as captain of Rockingham to get to the 300-game mark.

"It is something that means a lot and I think in reflection it has been a long career," Amos said.

"Sometimes when you're thinking about milestones you think about the last few years that you've been on that journey, and I've been stopping and thinking about the whole journey to when I started and the whole way through.

"You think of the ups and downs, but it's just momentous and I wanted to close it off with something. The 300 games was something that was close enough that I could achieve by going on this year and I didn’t want to fall short of that so I am proud of myself for getting here."

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Fate steps in for opponent

Right up until the end of the 2023 season, if Amos was to reach the 300-game milestone she thought it would be in a Wolfpack uniform given that is what she wore playing her first 270 appearances.

While she will be wearing a Rockingham uniform this Saturday night, it's only fitting that it will be with the Wolves as the opponents.

"It is amazing how it works out that it's against Joondalup. Obviously that's my own home club and it's somewhere that will always hold a special place to me," Amos said.

"I grew up there from when I was very young to only a couple of years ago, and I played 270-odd games there at SBL or NBL1 level. I'm really grateful it's against them because I get to share the milestone with them as well as my new family at Rockingham. It must have been meant to be."

Milestone occasion on Saturday night

When Amos thinks about why her milestone night on Saturday will be special, it's more because of the chance it will provide for her to not only share it with the people that mean most to her, but also to show what's possible for any aspiring young girls that might need someone to look up to.

"Obviously I'm excited to have my family there. My mum's coming, my dad's coming, my sister's coming and my kids will be there which I wasn’t sure if it was going to work out timing wise that they could," Amos said.

"There's going to be a lot of people in the crowd that will make it special for me from both clubs so it will be cool to see so many familiar faces.

"There are so many people who have touched my life and career, and I will enjoy seeing as many of those there as possible but I also know even if they are not there physically, they are still there for me.

"I'll just be happy to be there and to enjoy the occasion. I have been thinking about what I'd like to say and hopefully what I say about women in sport might make a difference to someone.

"Being a role model not just for my kids, but a lot of the girls in the crowd who I've seen at Rockingham or Joondalup before that might want to do what I've done one day. It gives me another chance to be heard which is pretty incredible."

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Having sons there for championship

When Amos played a key role in the Wolves championship back in 2013, her two sons were not even thought of yet. When they won the West Coast Classic championship in 2020, she was captain but wasn’t able to play while still working her way back from the complications after giving birth.

So to be able to play in a championship last year with the Flames with both her sons old enough to understand what their mum was doing, and to enjoy the occasion and to share the whole experience together, is something all three of them will never forget.

"That whole championship last year was incredible. It was really a pinch me moment, but in the throes of it I took the kids out of school early on the Friday to come to our Shootaround at RAC Arena," Amos said.

"They just thought it was normal and that was quite funny because they think it's just what mum does, but when they get a bit older they'll realise how special that really was.

"They got to experience that and I wasn’t sure if it was going to be possible so I'm very thankful that we got to enjoy that together.

"Then as soon as the buzzer went and we won the championship, pretty quickly I just wanted to get them out of the crowd and let them on the court with us.

"Security wouldn’t let them, but I didn’t accept that and just went and grabbed them. Sharing that with them and having all those photos is something that's always going to be really special."

Summing up career journey

When you put it all together, it's a remarkable journey for Amos to reflect upon having started out as an exciting young talented guard who was splitting her time between back-to-back SBL and WNBL seasons.

Then there was having the two children and having to miss out on playing for nearly four years before defying the odds to get back to play before winning another championship and captain the Flames in the back end of her career.

Above everything else, to have been able to rely on basketball to be such a significant part of her life now before and after being a mother is what she takes most pride in.

"Basketball from a young age up until I had the kids was everything. My whole life revolved around it and I played year-round for five years of it too, and I ever said it to my sister that you don’t really think too much about what having kids will do to change your basketball life," Amos said.

"I'm very thankful that I've been able to get to all these parts of my career with kids there now in this second part and that was part of wanting to have them when I was young enough to come back to play.

"I knew it would mean giving up a little bit of my independence to have that chance of them being able to watch me play. It's really special now having them sitting in the crowd and yelling out to mum when I'm on the court.

"It did change everything and obviously I've had a bit of a tough time since then as well, but it's helped me get through that having basketball still to be able to focus on. I wouldn’t change anything along the way because being able master it at all times of my life has been pretty special."

How far the game has grown

On the bigger perspective, Amos is proud to have seen how far basketball as a whole has grown throughout her career and especially the women's game to help create the lifelong memories for her and her sons to forever remember.

Whether it's experiences like getting to play on the big stage of RAC Arena or just the photographic and video evidence of her playing and the celebrations with her sons, it's something that Amos is so glad she fought so hard to make it back to play to experience.

"I'm so grateful that I've held on long enough to experience basketball in this new generation," Amos said.

"It's just so incredible that the next generations of especially females will get to experience how far things have come with something like the grand final at RAC Arena.

"But then you also look at things on social media, all the photographers we have and the exposure we're getting, it's growing all the time. Just last year alone I had more photos than I've had all the rest of my career put together.

"There's video content too and they are things we'll have together forever as a family where I didn’t have those memories we'll get to keep to that level from anything I achieved before.

"It is very special the way we'll be able to remember and I'm very grateful I'm seeing the back end of this. I'm a little jealous I'm not starting my career now and how cool would that be, but maybe even my kids if they play will get to enjoy how far basketball continues to grow."

Chris Pike

Amos thankful to basketball ahead of game 300