Will the Matildas' World Cup success mean more young girls will play sport?

Unless you count my mother's hockey games. She was my role model, and her teammates. They'd run hard, score goals, have a giggle after the match. I knew then I wanted some of the same.

Sure, when the Olympics were on television we'd tune in, watching things such as the ice skating and gymnastics; watching girls, not much older than myself, throwing themselves around a rink or tumbling across a mat.

My younger sister and I would imitate the rhythmic gymnasts, tying ribbons onto the ends of sticks and pointing our toes. But neither of us ever took up the sport.

I wonder now - given that I have somewhat reluctantly jumped on the Matilda's bandwagon - whether the whole concept of watching sport live is a better way to get young girls riled up about sport.

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I've watched all their pool games (albeit on the tele) and have loved the way the young girls in the crowd have just thrown themselves onto that rollercoaster of emotions that watching live sport brings.

When you watch televised sport there's just not the same visceral connection.

Don't get me wrong, I love it that there is more women's sport on television than ever before.

Rugby league, cricket, tennis, soccer, rugby union, swimming, surfing, netball. Hell, I can even find some women's hockey on television if I look hard enough.

But I wonder if there's more to it than that.

Does being in a crowd, watching it live, experiencing all that noise, seeing the emotion of the players, seeing the reactions of people around you, do more for bringing sport into young girls lives than a session on the couch?

And not just the young girls.

How many parents took their children to the game and walked out thinking 'I want my kids to be part of that'? Every single one of them I hope.

Just a word of warning, your experience on a frosty Saturday morning sideline will fall well short of your World Cup experience. More than well short.

But hopefully it will fill you with even an inkling of that same thrilling emotion.

There are always discussions in certain circles about whether the success of our national sporting teams and athletes translates into an increase in junior numbers.

Will more kids play cricket this summer after an Ashes series full of drama?

Will more kids jump in the pool after our success at the recent World Swimming Championships?

Will little girls in Kambah want to take up rugby league after the great start by the Raiders NRLW team?

Will Sam Kerr and her Matildas teammates inspire a whole new generation of soccer-mad girls to pull on their boots or will they have forgotten the whole thing by the time next season rolls around? I hope not.

So many girls drop out of sport when they hit their teens.

We need to think of ways to let them know it can be for life.

We need to let them see women who are playing sport at all levels, all ages, shapes and sizes.

Anyone who knows me knows I think sport is a fabulous thing. There is a lesson in every team, in every session of overtime, in any pass, in any win, and particularly in every loss.

At its best, sport mirrors the highs and lows of life, the joy of success, learning how to deal with failure, how to deal with teammates, how to learn your own place in the scheme of things.

If you've been lucky enough to get along to a Matildas game with your daughter, or even if you've just snuggled up on the couch and let her stay up late to watch it on the television, the next step is to buy her a ball and a pair of boots for Christmas. Or even before then.

And then the next step is to head to the park and kick the ball around with her.

Sign her up for a team.

More importantly sign up for a team yourself and force her to come and watch you play.

Or leave her at home and don't feel guilty that you wanted to channel your inner Sam Kerr, even if you're an old woman like me, with creaky knees and little stamina.

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