Let's keep this Olympic passion and enthusiasm for sport rolling

After the golden glory of the magnificent Olympic Games, and the current success of the Paralympics, people are beginning to ask about the legacy of London 2012.

Every time we catch a glimpse of one of our 29 Olympic gold medallists on the television, they are questioned about "inspiring a generation" and asked to offer words of encouragement to future sporting stars.

But long after the world's best athletes have departed from Heathrow how will this tiny island of ours keep up the phenomenal buzz and momentum currently gripping the country?

Unfortunately PE was never my favourite lesson at school. While the other kids gleefully pulled on their shorts, t-shirts and plimsols I was always reluctantly lagging behind – not only because I couldn't do my tie properly until year five. Despite not being a naturally sporty person I can't help thinking that I may have been more enthusiastic if the activities we were given looked more like those I enjoyed watching on the television.

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I never enjoyed clambering to the top of the blue climbing apparatus in the school hall while desperately trying to avoid contact with the boy with a terrible verruca.

Possessing the balance and co-ordination of a fairy elephant I always detested the balance beams and wandering around with a bean bag on my head. I could never see the point of hopelessly trying to haul myself up a rope attached to the ceiling or pathetically jump over the pommel horse.

I didn't hold outdoor PE in much higher esteem either. For me hockey simply meant getting painfully whacked around the ankles with a battered hockey stick or hit in the face with the ball, and cross country meant trudging around the school field getting horrendously muddy and losing all feeling in my frost-bitten fingers.

What I am trying to say is that we didn't know if anyone in my year group, or even school for that matter, had the potential to become the next Jessica Ennis, Craig Rutherford, Mo Farah, or Katherine Grainger because we simply didn't have the facilities to give it a go.

Our hurdles were canes resting on the top of small traffic cones, the high jump simply meant taller cones, and our football pitch had so many bumps and holes it was unplayable for most of the year.

There was one very special lesson when we were actually allowed to try the javelin but after one badly synchronized throw they were put safely back into the PE cupboard forever.

Every Tuesday for a year we were excitedly taken along to the local swimming pool but rather than encouraged to become the next Rebecca Adlington those of us who could already swim were simply left to play with a rubber brick in the deep end!

I'm sure I am not the only one who still cringes at the thought of running around the school hall in my vest and pants pretending to be pirates – but hopefully PE lessons like this are a thing of the past.

I sincerely hope that some of the money spent on the Olympic Games has been reserved or reinvested to help improve sport in schools. Let's keep this passion and enthusiasm in sport rolling and ensure that youngsters are encouraged to try their hand at all kinds of activities to help them discover their talents. And if we act quickly, who knows we could reach 30 gold medals in Rio!