"It was weird but I liked doing nothing on my Saturdays when I was younger."
Call it providence but all that changed two years later when a former school mate, Jamie van der Kuijl, invited Meredith to the Wairoa Thai Boxing Gym.
Watching trainer August Rewi put members through the spin-dry cycle of muay thai struck a chord with the teenager.
"I liked the fact that if you don't put the work in then you won't get the result. It shows who's the man," says the now 23-year-old Suvic Engineering apprentice from Napier before jetting off to Malaysia to represent his country at the Muay Thai World Championship.
He will fight in the cruiserweight division (86kg) from May 1-10 at Langkawi Island.
"In team sport, if you don't train others can carry you but in this [muay thai] if you don't train it'll show in the ring so there's nowhere to hide," says Meredith, who is raising funds with the help of his mother, Christine, of Wairoa, to help pay for $5000 in travel, accommodation and miscellaneous expenses.
"I've been working and training so I'm lucky to have mum," he says, drawing on some personal savings with no subsidy from the New Zealand Muay Thai Council.
"She doesn't like watching me fight but at the same time she's really proud I'm involved in something rather than beating up people in the streets," he says, heaping gratitude to all those people who have helped him to date.
Meredith also relishes a sense of belonging and respect that prevails in his Wairoa gym.
"You have brotherhood. You and the guys who train with you go through the same [problems] so it's a tight unit," says the one-year Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) graduate, who is "doing the hard stuff now" in his fourth year as an engineering apprentice.
It's not lost on him that fellow members are quality athletes so the training is intense.
Drinking and socialising are on the backburner.
"It's pretty hard when you're training six days a week after working the whole day.
"Girlfriends can get stroppy because when you get home you just want to sleep," says a jovial Meredith.
While he does some endurance, strength and pad work with trainer Scotty Thompson at the Training Grounds gym in Napier, Meredith remains fiercely loyal to his Wairoa gym, fighting under its banner.
He knew he was hooked on muay thai when he couldn't stop thinking about getting into the training sessions.
Another trainer, Tojo Dixon, also mentored him sporadically when he visited Wairoa from Auckland.
Meredith still commutes once a month to work under Dixon who is now based in Tokoroa.
His commitment to the discipline wavered a little when he moved to Napier about five years ago to attend EIT.
"I was studying so I had bit of a holiday for a year although I was running but not fighting."
Like a good omen, van der Kuijl moved down to Napier to rekindle his fire before moving to Auckland two years ago.
Meredith caught the eye of national selectors last year when he beat the favourite in the cruiserweight division at an eliminator knockout tournament in Auckland last year.
He won on a bye in the final after his opponent was injured but he had stamped his class in the first round against the favourite.
The former Wairoa College pupil sees the world championship as an opportune time to gauge his worth against superior fighters from elite countries.
"The Europeans are at another level so it's a good benchmark to find out how good I am."
Of course, winning a medal is also on his agenda but he is aware it won't be an easy feat.
"The main thing for me is to gain enough experience so I can bring it back home to up my game."
Clinching North Island and national titles are in his sights but the man who packs a knockout clinch-knee hit is warding off the allure of lucrative cage fighting. "Nothing's off the list. You never know," says Meredith who has five wins from knockouts.
Napier Boys" High School pupil Cody Thompson (below) is also jetting off to the world championship. Thompson, whose father is gym trainer Scotty, will compete in the under-57kg division of the junior section of the champs.
The 14-year-old has been training with his father from day dot, as it were.
The Year 10 pupil has had five bouts, winning four.
"Cody got picked in the New Zealand team by doing the trials and getting into the weight class," says his father who has been involved with muay thai for 30 years.
The pair jet off to Malaysia on April 22 where 110 countries will be represented.
"The Olympic committee will be at the world champs and the emphasis is on the youth, so it'll be huge," says the senior Thompson.
