Albany teenager ready for grand final double up

This weekend marks the end of the winter season for many sports with their respective grand finals but for one Albany teenager, Saturday afternoon will be far busier than for most.

Tamara Lowry faces a hectic few hours in which she will play in the Lower Great Southern Hockey Association women’s A-grade grand final and the Albany Netball Association A1 grand final on the same day.

The keen sportswoman will play for the Tigers as they look to topple North Albany in the hockey and will also run out for Royals Saints, who are up against Kangas in the netball.

The two finals will overlap, however, with the hockey decider set down for 2.15pm while the netball grand final will start at 3pm, leaving Lowry with a tough decision on what she plays and for how long.

With the hockey grand final consisting of 70 minutes of normal time and possibly extra time and even penalty strokes if the two sides can’t be separated, that match will run into the beginning of her netball decider.

But the 18-year-old is pretty relaxed about the double duty, having won a netball and hockey grand final on the same day before.

“I might see if I can play maybe a bit more than a half at hockey and then go to netball,” she said.

“I haven’t really thought about it too much (the clash).

“The hockey will be a pretty tough game, we have only beaten them once and North Albany are a pretty strong side.

“In netball we come through really well from fourth to the grand final and the team has got great attitude.”

The Year 12 student at St Joseph’s College couldn’t pick a favourite of the two sports but hoped to have an influence on the wing with her stick or with plenty of drive at wing attack on the court in the hope of helping win a grand final on the day.