The RIS team

Stuart Canavan

RIS Director - Clinician, Human Performance Consultant, & Educator

With 30 years of experience in the physiotherapy, health and human performance industry, Stuart holds a unique combination of experience and qualifications in Australia. Extensive experience as a clinician, lecturer and educator in the physiotherapy profession is combined with a background in high performance sport has seen him positively influence the lives of thousands of patients, athletes, teams and his profession both in Australia and abroad.

Stuart’s pathway as a professional was influenced by his childhood in a highly athletic family. These early years had a strong influence on his drive to become a health professional with a special interest in the use of exercise as a therapeutic and performance tool. His career has seen him work in the USA for six years as a physio and university lecturer before returning to Australia to develop a very large and successful practice in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. He has an established reputation and special interest in the management of patients with complex clinical presentations.

As a clinical and performance director he assisted in the development of one of Australia’s largest high school based sport academies. The success of this academy in both performance enhancement and injury prevention, including world leading results in ACL injury prevention, has seen it become a blueprint for many other high school based sports academies around Australia.

In the final phase of Stuart’s career he founded the Regional Institute of Sport with a drive and passion for making world class rehab, athletic performance and development programs available to anyone, especially those in regional areas.

A lifelong athlete, Stuart competes at Masters Level as a 400m hurdler and absolutely loves being a part of competitive sport. He personally lives the motto of Plan, Prepare, Perform.

Tynan Shannon

Performance Coach

Tynan is a passionate coach who has a dual degree in Sports Management and Exercise and Sports Science. This has provided him with a wealth of knowledge surrounding the importance of developing athletes through strength and conditioning and insightful view into nutrition and recovery for performance. Tynan is also a keen athlete, who prepares himself for his own sporting endeavors, so he understands the importance in preparing the body to perform well under pressure and to also practice what you preach.

Tynan currently is a cyclist who competes nationally within Australia and is taking the correct steps toward competing internationally within the next 12 months. Tynan has also competed at high levels within cricket and football where he played for the Greater Western Region Rebels and the Western Waves. Tynan seeks to provide our young athletes from the region with the building blocks required to perform at the highest individual level. He also strives to provide RIS athletes with all the necessary information required to perform on game day.

Tynan embraces the motto of Plan, Prepare, Perform, and relays this message to the RIS athletes.

Matt Kemp

Performance Coach

Matt has an academic background that includes a Degree in Exercise and Sports Science majoring in Strength and Conditioning.

Matt’s path towards his role with the RIS has been influenced by his personal experiences as a junior athlete and the frustration that comes with injury. He uses the latest applied sports science techniques to develop performance programs to optimise not only game day results but develop more robust athletes capable of withstanding the demands of sport.

Matt’s personal sporting pursuits include playing football and cricket for his home town club in Cobden, Victoria.

If you are interested in ways that Matt could assist you develop a customised performance program that includes the use of the latest testing technology let us know.

Simon Dundas

Performance Coach

Simon joined the RIS in 2021 as a performance coach. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise and Sport Science and recently completed a Master’s Degree in Secondary Teaching specialising in Physical Education, Health, Science and Applied Learning.

Simon is passionate about integrating high performance sport programs into secondary school systems to expose athletes to holistic strength and conditioning coaching including injury prevention, positive mentorship and research-based training programs that are not traditionally available to youth athletes in regional areas.

Simon understands the importance of a holistic approach to elite performance and educates athletes on key areas of recovery methods, balanced nutrition, movement mechanics, well-being and psychological aspects to performance in addition to sport specific physical preparation and training.

Simon has a background in team sports and was a representative basketballer for Bendigo Braves, and currently still competes in Division 1.