While most people may not be familiar with golf croquet, Hemi McLaren-Mellars is a young local prospect continuing to make strides on a national level in the sport.
The sport is a variation and more compact version of the more traditional form of croquet and the 15-year-old, who attends St Paul’s Collegiate, can describes it as a combination of snooker and chess.
The promising teen has had a stellar year winning tournaments across the country, securing 10 wins this season, including a victory at the Gordon Smith Invitational in Nelson.
As a result of his fantastic form he has been nominated for the Croquet New Zealand most improved player award.
The winner will be announced at a special function in Wellington in two weeks and although McLaren-Mellars has not won the award, he is still surprised his skills are being recognised on a national scale.
"Basically, I've come to terms with receiving awards. It’s just that this one is a national award and it’s sort of like wow," McLaren-Mellars said.
The golf croquet fanatic originally picked up the game when he was eight, playing alongside his grandmother Jenny at the Morrinsville Croquet Club, but only decided to play competitively two years ago.
McLaren-Mellars enjoys the strategic aspect most because it allows him to learn more about the game.
The year 11 student says he looks up to Christchurch’s Duncan Dixon, who is established as one of New Zealand’s top players and is a former world under-21 champion.
McLaren-Mellars credits Dixon with first getting him hooked on the sport when he invited him to play at a national tournament but it’s his style of play that he admires most and he believes they play a similar type of game.
"Just his style of play is pretty much identical to how I play, it’s quite out-of-sync with everyone else," he said.
"Some of the shots I play are not what you would expect and sometimes it gets people and that’s sort of my advantage."
McLaren-Mellars aims to further improve his game when he travels to Christchurch next week to join the national youth development squad.
The youngster believes he has learnt various techniques that have benefited his overall game as he targets the under-21 golf croquet world championships in 2015, which may be hosted in New Zealand.
