Some might label former Hawke's Bay cue sport whiz Ramona Belmont's comeback mission a little ambitious.
But Belmont, 28, who has been based in Auckland since 2006, has never been one to shy away from challenges. After almost three years away from tournament play, the former Napier Cosmopolitan Club player has targeted the July world nine ball championship in Las Vegas as her comeback event.
"It's a big year for me and not just in cue sports. I'm preparing to be a kidney donor for Mum and we're expecting to have the operations between August and October," Belmont explained, referring to her mother Maku.
"Testing has been going on since October last year. Depending on how Mum and I recover from it all, there may not be much play after July."
The assistant manager at Snooker World in Royal Oak, Auckland's premier venue for international and national pool and snooker tournaments, Belmont, said it was easy deciding to take a spell from playing.
"I had been playing for almost 16 years. Trying to work and save money along with playing tournaments got too much but I'm ready to come back now," Belmont said.
Although a nine-ball tournament will be the setting for her return, Belmont still ranks snooker as her No1 form of cue sport.
"Snooker is still my first love. I started playing it when I was 12 and it will never leave me," the St Joseph's Maori Girls' College old girl said.
That isn't surprising. The former New Zealand women's snooker team rep has been a semifinalist at world championship level on two occasions, has won at least four Oceania titles and the Australian Open.
Belmont considers winning the Australian Open the highlight of her career.
"That was my last big tournament before I stopped playing. Not long before that I had my biggest break in a tournament, a 90.
"I finished when I was at my peak. I'm confident I can get that form back providing I can get the balance between work and home life as well as tournament play right," Belmont said.
A former Ngati Kahungunu Sportsperson of the Year award winner, Belmont, will be accompanied by her partner for the past two years, Aucklander Jesse Leaf, during the July trip.
"He is just a beginner, a social player but he enjoys it. On the way home from Vegas, we will play in a tournament in Hawaii," she said.
Belmont, who won the world women's under-21 pool title in 2007, is still the only female to have played in Hawke's Bay's most prestigious snooker tournament, the 30-year-old Heretaunga Classic. She played it in 2011 and 2012.
In 2011 she almost beat Hawke's Bay's most successful professional in the country's snooker history, Dene O'Kane, who pipped Belmont 3-2 in the quarterfinals. O'Kane reached the quarterfinals of the men's world championships in 1987 and 1992.
In 2012, Belmont didn't qualify for post-section play.
"It was pretty cool to be asked to play in the Classic which is an invitation event," she said.
Although Hawke's Bay will host the North Island snooker and billiards championships starting in a fortnight, Belmont's name won't be among the entries.
"I'm busy saving for Vegas. Providing the operations go well, I'll get back into tournament play next year."
Throughout her career, Belmont has been coached by her father and former national snooker champion, Wyn Belmont. However, these days her father is too busy to play or coach, as he is running the Phoenix Sports Club in Otahuhu.
While she doesn't return to the Bay as often as she would like, Belmont looks forward to her visits to Napier and Wairoa to catch up with relations.
"Auckland is such a big rat race it's always good to get some grounding when I'm home in the Bay. My Nan [82-year-old Paea Keefe] is still my No 1 fan and it's always good catching up with her in Wairoa," Belmont said.
Apart from her cue sports, the multiple national champion enjoys her gym workouts.
"I do it to lose weight and I want to give myself the best possible chance of being a kidney donor for Mum.
"I consider myself pretty lucky to have been to all the countries I have travelled to for tournaments. It probably wouldn't have happened if I didn't start playing down in the Bay.
"I was lucky to get the support I did from the Hawke's Bay , association, all the sponsors down there, including Wayne Mudgway, who was my first big one, and organisations like the Napier Cosmopolitan Club's over-60s who often fundraised for me."
Everything going to plan more will be heard about Belmont on the national and international cue sport scenes. As she said: "You can keep playing these games until you are into your 80s and 90s ... even when you're 100."