By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Seventeen-year-old Mari-Yona Shannon recently returned to her hometown of Seattle to compete in the Washington State Open, her first adult tennis tournament. Shannon, who moved with her family to Ohio in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic and following the death of her mother, first picked up a tennis racket at age 4 and has been competing ever since.
As she prepares to enter her senior year at Maumee Valley Country Day School in Toledo, Ohio, Shannon also used the opportunity to visit a few colleges in the area, including the University of Washington and Seattle University.
“It was really fun being able to see all of the people that were at the Washington State Open and being able to compete in such a high-level tournament because that was my first adult women’s tournament,” Shannon said. “Being able to do that in my original home state is really special to me.”
Shannon’s return to Washington also offered a glimpse at how much her game has developed since leaving the state. During her first three years in Ohio, she has held the No. 1 singles position at her high school, won district, sectional and regional titles and qualified for the Ohio State Championship Tournament three times. She finished her freshman season with a 24-2 record and has competed as a No. 1 seed at the state tournament.
In addition to her success on the court, Shannon is equally accomplished in the classroom. Despite having a rigorous academic and athletic schedule, she has maintained a 3.85 GPA and is pursuing a STEM-focused curriculum that includes AP chemistry, calculus and physics. She is also fluent in Japanese and is learning Chinese.
For Shannon, maintaining that balance requires making the most of every available moment.
“It’s time management, being able to figure out where you can do your homework, whether that’s on the car ride to practice or whether that’s during lunch,” Shannon said. “Being able to really use up all the time that you can is important, because prioritizing both school and athletics is a little difficult.”
Her father, Michael Shannon, said he first realized tennis could become something special for his daughter when she was around 6 years old. Shannon was competing above her age level and showing an ability to understand the game beyond what he expected.
“I started watching how she was protecting the balls, and I realized that she needed higher-end coaching because she was in standard classes, but she was excelling and actually, dare I say, somewhat bored,” Michael said. “I just realized that she could handle the concept. She’s always been strong, and she saw the angles and understood some of the progressions, and as she got older I knew she really needs this and it was definitely worth it.”
The family’s move to Ohio came during a period of significant transition, and Shannon said adjusting to a new home and school during the COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges.
“It was a little difficult. I wouldn’t say it was absolutely like really, really hard, but I will say that it was especially since we moved out during COVID. It was just a different time,” Shannon said. “It was kind of hard to go from completely online courses to half online and half actually inside of the class because it was a different instruction in Ohio.”
Despite the challenges, Shannon said the move provided opportunities for her to develop as both an athlete and competitor, including greater access to tennis competition and training. Michael said the sport has a significant presence in southern Ohio, particularly around Cincinnati, which hosts the Cincinnati Open.
“Tennis in Ohio, especially Southern Ohio, it’s really a warmer zone. So, there’s a lot of tennis, and the Cincinnati Open is there,” Michael said. “That’s a big difference to be able to play tennis as much as it is played in that region compared to in Washington. I think that, if anything, the move to Ohio really increased her chances to play college tennis, just by virtue of how much tennis is played there.”
Shannon said she has also benefited from additional opportunities through the United States Tennis Association (USTA).
“I feel like I’ve improved a lot because the USTA really prioritizes the development of the youth in Ohio,” Shannon said. “I’ve been able to get some training, some funding, and I’ve also been able to just put more time on the court, which has led to my improvement as well.”
Nate Miles, a longtime family friend, said Shannon’s determination has been one of her defining characteristics as she has developed as an athlete.
“As an athlete, I think she’s just amazing. I think when you look at some of the young people that are coming up, she’s wonderful. I think she’s strong-willed and she has a real strong focus,” Miles said. “She has a determination to do what it is she sets her mind to do, which is really a sign that most great athletes have.”
Miles believes Shannon’s move away from Seattle also provided her with an opportunity to compete at another level.
“She knew in order to achieve the levels that she wanted to achieve, she had to make a change, and so she made her change to move to where the competition level was,” said Miles. “And she went there and has really started to improve playing the level of competition she needed to play to prove herself.”
As she enters her final year of high school, Shannon has her sights set even higher.
“I think my main goal for my senior year is to get my UTR up, and that’s my universal tennis rating,” said Shannon. “I also want to have a good finish at state, hopefully, at least top four this year, let alone winning it.”
Shannon said practicing with college players in Ohio has also helped prepare her for a higher level of competition.
“It is definitely a different level of play in Ohio,” said Shannon. “I do practice a lot with college players and just being able to hit with higher-level players is better for my game, I’d say.”
With college approaching, Shannon hopes to combine her academic interests with her tennis career. She is considering engineering, computer science or mathematics and hopes to continue playing tennis at the collegiate level.
For Michael, a University of Washington graduate, seeing his daughter consider schools in the Pacific Northwest has added another dimension to her return to Seattle.
“I’m happy for her, and I’m saying that because she and I talked about the multiple colleges that are interested in her, and we looked at the United States, and there were a couple of regions in the United States that were completely okay with,” Michael said. “Being a graduate of University of Washington, I’m very happy that she’s looking here in the Pacific Northwest, specifically at the University of Washington, Seattle University, and a couple others.”
Miles said he hopes colleges recognize both Shannon’s athletic ability and her potential value to a program.
“I hope that some of these colleges are able to see the level of ability that she has. That they see that she’s one of these both scholarship-level players as well as NIL-level players, and decide that they can invest in her,” Miles said. “The investment would be big to come back to the universities that she would be potentially playing for, and both the publicity and notoriety that she could bring to those schools.”
For Shannon, however, the goal remains bigger than simply returning home. After years of pushing herself on the court, she wants to see how far she can take the sport.
“I’d say what keeps me motivated in the sport is that I want to see how far I can go, and I want to see how far I can push myself to make sure that I have the best results that I can,” Shannon said. “You only live once, and I’d rather go out knowing that I pushed out everything rather than stop in the middle of me pushing out.”
