Heather Fell, Olympic silver medallist, writes about her life in the media and sports world.

SPORT has played a significant part in the last few of weeks for me and not in the obvious way. I've actually not managed as much physical activity as I'd have liked to but instead I've used sport to help develop others and enjoyed watching it from the comfort of home. The Commonwealth Games gave us another home sporting spectacle; the athletes certainly rose to the occasion, using the immense support from the crowd and delivered a record breaking medal haul for the home nations. The few friends who managed to get tickets and head up to Glasgow were impressed with the vocal support and not just for the Scottish competitors. It wasn't purely about winning performances; the label 'the friendly games' says it all and seeing countries represented by sometimes as few as just one competitor proved the Commonwealth spirit survives. Watching a big championships is an obvious way to get inspired but it has been the more subtle effects of sport that I've noticed recently. The last few weeks I've been working as an athlete mentor with a group of unemployed young people through the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust. It is the improvement in their confidence, team work and self belief, to name but a few, that has proven how much more sport can do for our society. At Friday's celebration event I was amazed when some of these young people faced their worst fears and stood up in front of a crowded room to speak about their experiences. Now it is a waiting game to see if these new skills will stay with them for life. On the other end of the spectrum I was helping some aspiring young pentathletes to develop their skills at a training day. The number of staff and volunteers present at this event again proved to me how significant people believe sport to be.