Matthew Floros' cricket-crazy parents encouraged him and his brothers to run about, shoot hoops and boot balls around their family-owned courts in Weston Creek.
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Years later, brothers Timmy, Alexander and Matthew are national indoor cricket champions after they defeated Queensland to clinch the ACT's fifth national championship in eight years.
Veteran batter Matthew Floros captained his side to a 77-74 win in Adelaide, but attributed his role within the ACT Rockets to playing in the backyard with his cricket-loving family.
The Floros family has become synonymous with indoor cricket in Canberra circles, constantly bolstering representative teams and chasing higher honours with Australian squads.
"I've got three brothers and two cousins, and we're all very, very heavy into our sport. I definitely say it was a result of parents, aunties and uncles, we were always a very active family," Floros said.
"We've naturally played with each other since the very beginning. It adds a little bit more of an emotional state when playing now, and it's definitely a nice moment to win with them.
"My parents own a sports centre in Weston Creek. So naturally growing up, we spent all of our school holidays at the sports centre, running around, kicking a ball, shooting at hoops, all that sort of stuff.
"Canberra is such a small, tight-knit community, and this means we can naturally spend a lot more time together as well. We always see [winning] about strength in numbers, but for us, it was definitely a strength in the community."
But how did Floros find indoor cricket?
Indoor cricket's participation numbers pale in comparison to outdoor cricket, where thousands of fans descend on stadiums every summer to watch Steve Smith crunch the ball towards the boundary line or Mitchell Starc steam in off the long run.
Floros may have started out aiming to impress his sports-crazy family on the outdoor fields in south Canberra; however, as he grew older he found that he could no longer sustain playing the sport, as he had more of a passion for indoor cricket.
"[I loved it because it] was very much like a backyard cricket game," Floros said.
"I played all of my outdoor cricket at the Tuggeranong Valley cricket club, and my indoor cricket was all played at my dad's sports centre. So definitely a collaboration of both.
"Our indoor cricket team always wanted to punch above our weight and we were always pushing each other."
Upon the conclusion of the national championships, Floros was named captain of the Australian indoor cricket side, taking the reins of a side formerly led by Lyle Teske during an 11-year tenure.
And this year, brother Tim will also join Floros in the national side as they prepare for a tri-nations series against New Zealand and South Africa this September.
Becoming the 13th of captain of the national side, Floros understands that he had big shoes to fill, but wasn't feeling the pressure of Teske's 11-year-long influence over the national team.
"It's big shoes to fill, no doubt. But at the same time, I'm very realistic as a lot of other countries are very, very good at the sport as well", Floros said.
"So, the key for myself is to try on my own shoes and see how they fit."
Floros will now spend some time in Brisbane, before heading to Adelaide in a few months for the tri-nations series.
