It is akin to the philosophy of the FastNet competition that aims to thrill fans with speed and flair.
Five versatile hockey players will take the field. With side boards and no penalty corners, the game is fast and exciting while also making it more viable for smaller countries to compete.
A women's team, with Bay-born Caryn Paewai as their coach, will also compete in their gender tourney, after both teams won their respective qualifiers in Vanuatu in March this year.
Thomas says McAleese, who finished his campaign with the Black Sticks at the World Cup in the Netherlands yesterday, told him he had the talent but needed to keep honing his skills.
Mindful the Olympian emphasises the need for a thorough understanding of the basics on his website, Thomas says for a budding striker a little more outside the square is imperative.
"It's always important to do the basics well but it's also valuable to beat your man, so you need a little bit of that X factor," says the first-year EIT sports and recreation student.
The Youth Olympics is a timely reinforcement for the former Hastings Boys' High School pupil that he is on the right track to the pinnacle of his code.
"I always had the goal of going to the 2016 Rio Olympics, so this is a big step towards that."
The former Taikura Rudolf Steiner School pupil says the 10-hour flight to a sweltering 35C Nanjing will be a test in itself, before they play three 12-minute matches with players allowed only a maximum of three-minute bursts on the compact turf.
The Vanuatu qualifiers and the trip to Brisbane in an 11-a-side under-18 tourney were timely exposures to heat and humidity.
"In the last game against Queensland, we were smashed 8-1 because of the conditions."
The five-a-side format, he says, demands players with all-round skills to attack and defend.
Hayden Phillips, 16, of Palmerston North Boys' High School, is the other Central U21 player going to the Games.
When he was 9, Thomas had to pick between soccer and hockey because of the clash of times on Saturday mornings.
"I chose hockey because I was naturally talented at it and it was easier than soccer."
He lauds his parents, nurse Sandra and Hastings council employee Stan, for driving him around the country. They have no sporting background.
"They watch all my trainings and games and they are going to Nanjing too."
Finesse, agility and mental fortitude are some of his attributes but the Games stress enjoyment and building friendships.
