EACH weekend The Chronicle sport team jumps on its Saturday Soapbox and voices its opinion on some pressing sporting issues.

This weekend the team talks about women's sport and just a little more tennis.

Jason Gibbs: LOCALLY we've seen a significant boost in women's sport of late and that's a really good thing.

Gone are the days when young girls featured in boys' teams until they were "physically overshadowed” and almost forced out of the game.

Now we see sporting organisations investing heavily in women's sport to ensure they're given just as much opportunity to shine as their male counterparts.

This effort is not just good for the female game.

At a local level, I believe strong numbers and support for the women's game are often indicative of strong male competitions as well - simply because a larger percentage of the population is involved.

Hopefully the trend continues.

Madolyn Peters: AS A sports reporter and a sport fan in general it's awesome to see the Toowoomba rugby sevens and Aussie Rules women's competitions expanding.

At the rate the national competitions are growing not only in numbers but popularity it builds interest at a grassroots level.

I hope it encourages girls and women in the region to follow in the pathways forged by players like Emilee Cherry, Delissa Kimmince and Millie Edwards.

And the great thing is there are now opportunities for female athletes that those players never got.

Hopefully it's not long until we see women's cricket and rugby league in the region follow suit.

Glen McCullough: FROM someone who has a few years in age on Gibbo and Maddy I can tell you no-one years ago saw this current emergence of women's sport coming on such a grand scale.

And good luck to all now revelling in its growing success.

Like many of their fellow sportsmen, the female sport codes have so many marketable faces and stories - without (fingers crossed) the boofhead element some male sporting codes have parading on a regular basis.

No wonder women's sport is growing in stature with potential sponsors.

During my time as a sport writer I've been fortunate enough to see the emergence of females in the racing industry - particularly in Toowoomba.

The girls are now a popular commodity in all facets of racing - especially as jockeys - with even the hardest male markers acknowledging their arrival.

They haven't got to where they are by fluke or through token gesture.

They are achieving through hard work, skill, dedication and thanks to the testing, and at times frustrating path built by those who came before them.

Tennis fairytale

Jason Gibbs: WHAT is it about the Australian Open and fairytale runs?

Cast your eye over both sides of the draws and there is hardly a seeded player to be seen.

I don't know if it's because it's the first open of the year or just coincidence, but I love it.

I only hope that by the time this column is published South Korean Hyeon Chung's fairytale run has come to an end.

Roger Federer is one of the greatest players to ever hit the court and I'd love to see him claim one more Australian Open.