Shannon’s story: Tennis-champion turned disability advocate

Gold Coast local, Shannon Stamenovic hasn’t had the traditional career journey. She is currently working for Aruma, one of Australia’s largest NDIS Disability Service Providers, as a manager of three homes for people with disabilities in Terranora, Pacific Pines and Southport. However, Shannon started her career at just six years old as a tennis champion.

Born into the sport by parents who operated tennis centres, Shannon had a racquet in hand from an early age and a first-place junior ranking at just eight years old.

Throughout her career she played in three grand slams, the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon before retiring at a career high world ranking of number 200 for singles and doubles.

The tough decision to retire left her with a choice to make about her future.

“I retired and went into coaching the top juniors for Tennis Australia, but my passion wasn’t there anymore, and my mental health was suffering. I felt lost, my whole identity was in tennis,” said Shannon.

When her cousin was in year 12 a drunk truck driver hit her car and left her severely disabled with a brain injury. It was her family (including Shannon’s mum) who became her advocate, and the experience gave Shannon a firsthand look at the disability industry.

“My family inspired me to find a role where I could advocate for people who can’t advocate for themselves. That’s where my passion is. I went to work researching how I could navigate this new career path. I had no qualifications. But I knew there was a fire there and I would figure it out,” said Shannon.

With Aruma’s support and flexibility, Shannon began working in a Community Hub as a Support Worker and studying for her Certificate 3, Certificate 4 and Diploma in Disability Support. During maternity leave, Shannon took on more study, which led to her being able to land her current management role just four years after she first joined the organisation.

Over the past two years, Shannon has brought a focus of health and wellbeing from her career in tennis to her team and the NDIS participants living in the three homes under her care.

“At all my sites I have fresh fruit and water available to everyone because I want people to easily be able to refuel. You can’t pour from an empty cup, and in our line of work, where we need to give so much to the people we support, I need staff feeling their best,” said Shannon.

She added, “My team are incredible. They’re so proactive and really embody Person Centred Active Support when it comes to health and fitness. They get in the pool too if it’s a swimming day, they join in with Zumba. Without their willingness to get involved, I don’t think we would have gotten the results we have today. The participants at my houses, their overall health and wellbeing is fantastic. They are so happy and engaged working towards their dreams and goals.”

Aruma has recently launched their Preventative Health Strategy, a commitment to change the future of health support for people with disabilities in Australia.

People with disability have more than twice the rate of avoidable deaths and a lower life expectancy than people in the general population, and twice the rate of emergency department and hospital admissions.

However with people like Shannon, working every day to change this, the future is looking bright.

Read more Aruma News