The boot was on the other foot when veteran Ken Walker (Fairfield) was invited to skip the Green team at the national championships.
Over the past few years, Walker (66) has taken the initiative in developing promising young bowlers by inviting them to join his team.
This year, three promising teenage bowlers have asked Walker to join their team.
Twins Elliott and Oliver Mason (19), from the Forbury Park club, are mates with Sheldon Bagrie-Howley (18), from Gore.
They will be playing in only their second New Zealand championships when the event starts in Dunedin tomorrow.
They wanted an experienced player to skip their fours team.
''Ken's a hard man who has a wealth of experience,'' Elliott Mason said.
''He encourages us and is very supportive.''
Walker was touched when he was tapped on the shoulder.
''These three guys asked me to play with them in the nationals at Dunedin 15 months ago,'' Walker said.
''I was honoured to be asked. I like the guys, I like their enthusiasm. They are great ambassadors for the game.''
Walker is convinced they will make their mark at the championships over the next two weeks.
''I am trying to help bring on the next generation of top bowlers. I expect big things from them in the nationals. It's not the last you've heard of these guys.
''If they play to their potential we will have a chance to make a big noise at the championships. They definitely have talent.''
The teenagers will be engrossed in bowls for two weeks in Dunedin.
''We will live bowls, we will talk bowls, amd we will play bowls,'' Walker said.
Walker won the New Zealand singles title in 1987 and the fours in 1983, and was runner-up in the singles to Australian-based Andrew Todd in 2010.
Walker has won 31 Bowls Dunedin titles.
The best-erformed teenager in the team is Elliott Mason, who was a member of the New Zealand under-18 team that beat Australia this year.
Bagrie-Howley (18) won the New Zealand Kittyhawk under-20 singles in 2011 and was runner-up this year.
Oliver Mason will join Walker in the pairs, and Elliott Mason and Bagrie-Howley will play together. All members of the team will play in the singles.
The Mason twins and Bagrie-Howley developed their bowls through the New Zealand secondary schools championships and the Kittyhawks.
There are 24 bowlers competing in Dunedin who have come through this system.
They include Shannon McIlroy (Stoke), Andrew Kelly (Redcliffs) and Mandy Boyd (Burnside), who are expected to be named in the Black Jacks for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Other bowlers who have made the Black Jacks squad are Chris Le Lievre (Eastbourne) and Mark Watt (North East Valley).
The New Zealand secondary school championships were first held in Hamilton in 2000 when Raika Gregory (Otaki College) won the boys singles and Joanne Rerita (Hutt Valley) the girls singles.
Black Jack singles player McIlroy (Lytton) won the boys singles three years in a row from 2002 to 2004.
Taieri is the headquarters green for the national championships.
The finals of both the men's and women's singles and pairs will be on January 4.
The fours finals will be on January 9.
