As a teenager, Justin Carter would on weekends, and later when home from boarding school for holidays often help out his mum Karen in her Gunnedah pharmacy.
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It sowed the seeds for a passion that would lead to him studying pharmacy and now working alongside her as a pharmacist.
And, as of July a part-owner of what was Karen Carter Chemist and is now known as Carter's Pharmacy.
"It's been good," he said.
"It's been pretty busy, just doing the pharmacist work and then the managerial and the other side to that sort of thing as well."
Carter is also a familiar face around the local sporting fields, playing tennis, rugby and presently with Mornington in the local first grade competition.
On Saturday he could have been excused for having some mixed feelings after peeling off the winning runs in their clash with Kookaburras.
Taking him to 58, he finished just three runs shy of his highest score.
But as captain, it was about the result more so than any personal accolades.
"It was good for the team. We only had nine players so it was good to get a win, when we were struggling for numbers," Carter said.
That said, it was "good to get a few runs" and a "few out of the middle" as he followed up a last innings 25 with his first half-century for the season.
"I was just looking to actually score some runs rather than just stay in there and block the ball, and then just rotate the strike to Henry Johns, who has been getting most of our runs for the season," Carter said of his approach going out to bat on Saturday.
Johns also made a half-century (54), the two putting on 89 for the second wicket after they had lost Nick Millar in the first over.
After initially playing the support role to Johns, Carter took over as the aggressor when he departed, smacking 12 off what would be the last over and bringing up his 50 with a boundary.
One of the club's stalwarts - he moved across from Court House when he was about 16 - the 26-year-old has this season stepped up to the captaincy with Rhyce Kliendienst wanting to take a bit of a step back.
"I did it (captain) when I was younger playing rep in Gunnedah, and then doing it again this year it's been good," Carter said.
"The main thing I just think of is making sure we bring up a lot of juniors just because that's going to help Gunnedah cricket, not just Mornington but everyone in Gunnedah cricket in four, five, six years time."
Paddy Paul top-scored for Kookaburras with 47, Sally Keeler also chipping in with 27 and Ateeq-ur Rahman 19 as they recovered from 5-45 to post 9-132.
Millar (3-16) and Kliendienst (2-28) led the charge for Mornington, Carter also chiming in with a rare wicket.
Not normally bowling, he hadn't done it "for a long time", being a bit short for options he thought he'd better put his hand up.
In the other game, Albion were three wicket winners over Court House. After bowling a nine-man Court House out for 102, Albion looked to be cruising at 3-83 but had a late stumble en route to replying with 7-103.
Russell Baker (9no) saw them over the line after James Mack had made 28, Mitch Herden 24 and Andy Mack 17. Pete McCormack, Jacob Price and Brodie Cleal each took two wickets for Court House, who were led with the bat by Braithen Winsor and Ben Irwin (both 19).
