If you loved tennis or squash and your knees finally said no, croquet gives you the part you actually miss. The competition, and the satisfaction of a shot that comes off, with none of the pounding that ended the other game.

It manages this because nothing about it jars the body. You walk on a soft lawn, and walking is the hardest thing your legs do all morning. The stroke is a smooth pendulum from the shoulders, so there is no twisting through the back or hips and no sudden force to strain. And you set the pace yourself. Nobody is sprinting, nobody is making you react, so the injuries that come from quick changes of direction have nowhere to start.

That last part matters more than it sounds. Most sports injuries in older players come from the reactive moments, the lunge for a ball, the awkward landing. Croquet has none of them. You line up, you play your shot, you walk to the next one. The game waits for you.

None of which makes it gentle in the sense of easy. It is gentle on the joints and hard on the wits. The good players are the ones reading three shots ahead and working out how to send your ball to the boundary while they are at it. You can spend a lifetime getting better at it, which is the thing a real sport gives you that a walk around the block does not.

People with arthritis often find it is one of the few sports they can still play through, because steady low-impact movement keeps a joint mobile rather than aggravating it. A word with your doctor first is sensible, but most are pleased to hear you have found something competitive that does not come with a fortnight of recovery.

You do not need braces or special shoes. Flat soles to protect the lawn, and the club provides the rest. If you have been missing the game more than the exercise, most clubs run a free morning where you can pick up a mallet and find out whether your eye is still in.