Hearts legend John Robertson was back at Tynecastle last week working with the Heart of Midlothian Education and Community Trust on its brand new social responsibility programme.

The initiative entitled 'On the Ball' is delivered as a partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council and funded by the Community Safety Partnership, to assist young people that have been involved in antisocial or offending behaviour.

The overall aim of the programme is to:

  • To reduce re-offending by participants and to meet needs associated with desistance.

  • To increase young people's participation in pro-social activities.

  • To increase young people's self-esteem and confidence.

  • To enhance young people's communication and team work skills.

  • To enable young people to develop empathic awareness, to challenge distorted thinking patterns and to regulate anger and impulsivity.

    Robbo led an hour long session which looked closely at effective communication and motivation and kicked of the class by showing a number of his goals against Hibs.

    The group of youths responded extremely well and were captivated with what the former striker had to say on a variety of topics including training, employment, goal setting and personal responsibility.

    Hearts community development manager Alan White commented: "This is the first occasion we have used Robbo to tutor on one of our social programmes specifically and I have to say he was absolutely magnificent with the lads.

    "It can be difficult for anyone in the teaching profession to maintain the concentration of any group for a prolonged period of time but with someone of his profile and of course the obvious football hook generating discussion, there was no sign of their attention wavering."

    The course also included a motivational talk with Gary Mackay and Mickey Weir from Hibs, interactive cooking sessions with the club's head chef and an end of course celebration of achievement that was attended by goalkeeper Mark Ridgers.