What a few weeks of sport we’ve had.

England’s Lionesses were phenomenal on and off the pitch, inspiring a whole generation of girls and boys.

Closer to home, we’ve had the biggest sporting event ever to be held in the West Midlands with the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

35 years ago, I gathered round a small television at my primary school in Stourbridge, to watch the announcement that Birmingham had failed to get the 1992 Olympics.

We had to wait another 30 years, but we have enjoyed a tremendous 11 days of sport. We can be enormously proud that the West Midlands has hosted not only one of the world’s largest sporting gatherings but, according to representatives from around the world, one of the best with packed venues and people lining the streets when the cycling came to Dudley.

While our Aussie mates pipped us to the top spot in the medal table, the men and women of Team England did us proud winning a record 176 medals, including 57 golds.

Across the Games venues was plastered the slogan “sport is just the beginning” and now we must make sure our region takes full advantage of opportunities Birmingham 2022 has given us.

The analysis put together by PwC projected the Games would be worth £526m to the West Midlands economy and an average of 4,500 jobs per year for four years would be created or sustained - the equivalent of employing 18,000 people for one year. In total, they expected the benefits to be 3.2 times the costs.

The lead up to the Birmingham 2022 was planned in a way that would give opportunities for towns and communities right across the West Midlands to get involved.

Dudley welcomed thousands of people to locations right across the borough for the Queen’s Baton Relay, and in Dudley South that meant we were host to three fantastic community events on the Sunday before the Games began. Local hometown heroes like Lions Boxing Club’s Kev Dillon, Cllr Shaz Saleem and Tough Enough To Care’s Stu Bratt – as well as young people from local schools and sports clubs – were among those carrying the baton around the region.

There is an opportunity for Birmingham 2022 to leave a real sporting legacy for our community if they prompt more people to get involved in grassroots sport – whether taking part, coaching or as an official.

I enjoyed taking part in ‘Merry Hill at the Games’, where organisations from the Albion Foundation and Worcestershire County Cricket Club to local sports clubs gave children a chance to try a different sport each day throughout the Games.

While many people across the country will remember the Games for the famous “Raging Bull” statue, I really hope that children will also remember Birmingham 2022 for the buzz they felt and the new sports they tried when one of the world’s greatest sporting events came to the Midlands.

Who knows, maybe a future Adam Peaty, Joe Fraser or Katarina Johnson-Thompson will look back at Birmingham 2022 as the moment where it all began for them.