HEDGE End schoolboys Nick and Chris Ball know exactly which sporting path to follow.

While other boys their age dream of being footballers, cricketers and sprinters, the Ball brothers have bucked the trend by continuing the family tradition of race walking.

Nick has already made his mark on the national stage by being crowned AAA under-20 10-kilometre champion at the tender age of 15.

Amazingly, ten-year-old Chris is showing the potential to be just as good, if not better, than his older brother in a few years time.

Their 40-year-old father, Jim, is still going strong with a staggering 46 county titles to his credit and the one regret the family have is that grandad, Cliff - the man who first caught the family walking bug - is not alive to see his grandsons following proudly in his footsteps. He died in 1990.

Jim recalled: "My dad started racing during the 1950s when Percy Wright, an Olympic-standard walker, moved down to Southampton from London and trained at the Sports Centre.

"Dad competed a lot during the 1950s and 60s for the old Southampton & Eastleigh club and then I got involved. Now Nick and Chris have taken it up and it's just a shame that dad's not here to see them do it."

Nick's success in the AAA Under-20s earned him his first junior international vest for Great Britain in Italy recently and, despite his tender age, he hopes to be mixing it with the big boys at the senior AAA Championships in Birmingham next weekend. With precious Lottery funding available if he can crack 23 minutes for the 5K, the goal is to be dragged round to a fast time.

There is no one to touch him in his own under-17 age-group having completed a clean sweep of titles in the AAA under-15 3K Championship last year, the IWA Under-17 Championship, the English Schools' 3K and the Inter Counties 10K.

The super-fit Wildern Arts College student, 16 next April, was also second in the Indoor Under-21 3K in January.

It was inevitable that Chris would be a chip the old block.

The Freegrounds Junior School pupil has been involved in the sport for the last two years and is already making massive strides at novice level.

Dad Jim said: "He's actually doing better than Nick did at the same age. Nick, in turn, is much better than either my dad or I were in his age-group."

Unfortunately for the older Ball brother, he did not race to the best of his ability in Italy after walking into style problems.

His time of 23 minutes 54.06 for the 5K was a little slow by his own high standards.

He explained: "I got a couple of warnings for having bent knees and I slowed up in the last part of the race.

"It's harder at a higher level because the judges concentrate a bit more on your style.

"I'm not usually that bad and I should have done it quicker than I did. I've run 23.10 in the past which is more acceptable for my age."