HAWTHORN defender Rick Ladson looks to several of his teammates for inspiration on the training track, but the greatest lessons he’s learned over the past few years may come from his time working with troubled youths as part of an Anglicare “big brother” program.

Alongside Hawk Chance Bateman last year, Ladson met weekly with a small group of 10 to 12-year-olds from the Bayswater area.

“We’d run a program where we might go out for a kick, or sit down and go through choices and consequences, that sort of thing,” he said.

 “We brought them to training one day and took them around and met a few of the boys and they were just stoked with that. It’s a good experience for them and for us.”

Witnessing the personal transformation during the eight-week program was an eye-opener for Ladson, who was able to pass on valuable lessons from his experience at a top-level football club.

Relying on your mates was a topic that struck the right chord.

“You don’t have to be in it yourself. If you’re in a bit of trouble you can talk to your mate about it instead of bottling it up and maybe making the wrong choice in the end,” Ladson said.

And he said he had learned some valuable insights from his young charges: “A never give-up attitude. If things aren’t going your way, then you’ve just got to find a way to make you happy.

“I think that’s what the kids ended up doing. They found something that they enjoyed, and a group of kids that were trying to do the same thing and they helped each other get something out of it.

“I really enjoy helping out kids. Just the joy of seeing their faces when they achieve something is really good.”

“It’s something I’ve been looking into and I’m doing a similar thing this year over in Tassie with some older kids, so we’ll see how that pans out.”

While Ladson was able to take the Bayswater kids under his wing, it’s players like Brad Sewell, Sam Mitchell, Tim Clarke, Chance Bateman and Danny Jacobs, who is on the comeback trail after two seasons of injury woes, that he admires on the track.

After regional training sessions at Dandenong and Packenham provided some welcome variety to the pre-season, the Hawks are “jumping out of their skin” to get the season started and continue last year’s momentum.

“We got a taste of finals football, which is fantastic for our young group, and going into this year we’ve just got to take what happened out of the finals series, more importantly that last loss, that bitter taste, if we can turn that around,” Ladson said.

“We’ve got a lot of things to work on. We’re doing that at the moment and hopefully that will come out in our games.”

After a 2005 season cut short by injury, the 24-year-old has matured through 2006-07. Discovering his strengths and limitations, he’s also learned a lot about managing his body and has been rewarded with a top 10 finish in the Hawks’ best and fairest award in both years.

“You start reading your body and listening to your body. That’s probably why I played a lot of games in two years,” he said.

 “I’ve made some little steps over the last couple of years to playing consistent football. I want to maintain that for the upcoming year and hopefully go on with that a bit more. 

“When you’re playing consistent footy and playing in the senior side a lot, you mature a lot, game by game.”

Playing a consistent game is something that Ladson, the Hawks, and Hawks’ supporters, all hope will come to fruition in season 2008.

“If the team is going well, usually individuals play well, consistently, which is the main thing.”