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A Sporting Chance: The seismic shift happening in youth sports

"We need to remember why young people participate in sport - it's about fun, the challenge, being part of a team or a group, being with friends, and self-improvement. We need to focus on making sure our young people's first sporting experiences meet those needs that they want to take part and through that, develop the skills and confidence to remain in sport throughout their life," says Chiet.

If that all sounds a bit like, well, "PC, new age rubbish" – to borrow an oft-cited refrain of dissenters (usually followed by at least three exclamation points) – Chiet points out these ideas aren't particularly new.

"Don't get me wrong, online polls were still 30 per cent agree, 70 per cent don't, but actually seeing people say 'yeah this is needed' and these are iconic athletes that have followed the same journeys. Buck Shelford is as hard and as competitive as they come, and he is saying 'this is the right thing'.

"It was actually galvanising some of the people in this space that are trying to do the right thing. So there's some really positive momentum."

This is good to see. It's always difficult when populist rhetoric holds back progress.