CHARLESTOWN teenager Hannah Cullen leads a double sporting life.
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The 13-year-old juggles two sports she loves - athletics and netball.
Hannah trains in pole vault at Wallsend Athletics Club with a small group of people, including her sister Erin, 14, with coaches Peter Herd and Graeme Harris.
She watched her sister from the sidelines for a year before trying it out.
"When Erin was doing it she said it was a lot of fun and when I tried it, it turned out it was," Hannah said.
Despite Erin having a one-year lead, Hannah is already hot on her heels.
Hannah's first meet was last October at the NSW All Schools Athletics carnival at Homebush. At that point she had only trained twice.
Hannah jumped 1.7 metres and landed second in her age group, qualifying for nationals in Adelaide in December.
At nationals, she cleared 2.5m but clipped the bar with her elbow, bringing her official height down to 1.9m, placing her fourth.
If she had cleared the 2.5m jump, she would have walked away with a bronze medal.
With these competitions behind her, Hannah has turned to her winter sport and selection in Newcastle Netball Association's representative team.
She made the under-13s team last year, which went on to win the NSW State Age Championships in June, after winning 21 out of 22 games.
This year's selection trials are next month.
If Hannah makes the team again, she will give up pole vault until the netball season ends as training falls on the same night.
But sure enough, when June rolls around, Hannah will head straight back into athletics.
Hannah will compete at the NSW Country Athletics Championships this Friday, January 23, where she hopes to put in one last solid effort before swapping to the netball court.