Photo Provided BARNESVILLE NATIVE Dr. Nicole Detling poses with former U.S. Olympian speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno during a past Olympic Games. Detling offered up advice for athletes, coaches and parents for coping for these times without sports.

In today’s world of coronavirus, it doesn’t matter the part of life in which you examine.

The number of questions far outnumber the answers.

Simplifying that down to sports, the same holds true. Even if you break it down even further, into high school sports, still more questions remain than answers.

Quite frankly, being a student-athlete, coach, parent and even just a fan is hard right now because of the unknowns.

With those unknowns comes stress, which can lead to one’s mental health being greatly affected at a time when it would seem mental toughness is of the utmost importance.

“The unknown is the ultimate stress because to the worse-case scenario is where you always go in your mind,” Dr. Nicole Detling, a Barnesville High School graduate, said during a recent interview.

Detling, who now resides in Salt Lake City, owns and operates Headstrong Consulting LLC, which is a sport psychology company focusing on performance enhancement through mental skills training. She’s seen and heard from several athletes of all ages as they try to cope and deal with the effects COVID-19 is taking on athletics across the country.

Unfortunately, Detling doesn’t have the answers as to when things may get back to normal. It’s just another unknown and unfortunately, the unknowns keep piling up.

Though the Ohio High School Athletic Association has unveiled a return-to-play plan, which includes practicing resuming for spring sports on May4 and games beginning on May 9, Gov. Mike DeWine has yet to officially say that schools are going to re-open for this school year.

One unknown that was answered early on in this process by the OHSAA was that if schools do not re-open until August, then spring sports will be officially called off.

But, still, it’s not official until DeWine makes his intentions known and last Friday he announced at his daily media briefing that he would have that answer “early next week.”

Detling, a former prep athlete herself for the Shamrocks, understands what sports mean to people. In her professional life, she works with U.S. Olympians on the mental health side. In the time leading up to the governor’s official verdict, she encourages athletes to keep training.

“Train as though the season is going to happen,” Detling said. “If it does happen, you’ll be ready. And, if it doesn’t happen, physical activity is one of the best things you can do to ward off anxiety, depression and all of those things you want to avoid. It’ll just make you feel better, so physically and mentally, it’s the right thing to do. Keep training because either way, it’s not going to be the wrong thing.”

Clearly, if schools re-open and sports proceed, many factions of people will have a huge amount of stress removed from their shoulders. But, what if schools don’t re-open and sports are called off until the fall, which actually may also be in jeopardy?

All spring-sport athletes — regardless of age and gender — will feel emotions about what could lie ahead, regardless of the outcome.

However, the Class of 2020 will probably feel it the greatest. Not to sound too cliche, but your senior year of high school is supposed to be your most memorable. Clearly, there will be plenty to talk about when these seniors get together as reunions, but getting to that point where it becomes a blip on the radar might be tough.

Should sports be halted for the remainder of the school year in Ohio and West Virginia like they have in numerous other states, including Utah where Detling is, she stresses stages for those 12th graders.

“Seniors may never like the fact that they lost their final season (of high school sports), but eventually they’ll get to the point where they accept it,” Detling said. “And once they get to that stage, it’s easier to move forward. The regret may always be there, but it’s not a decision they made.”

Coaches are definitely a group that will need to remain strong during the process, regardless of outcome. Detling believes it’s true for coaches at any level, but especially so at the youth and high school sports level.

“They’ll need to go through their own process, but will need to be the strong shoulders for their athletes to come to,” Detling said.

While when most of coaches, the in-game strategy or practices is where your mind goes first. While that’s clearly a big part, the mental side and dealing with young, impressionable minds is a huge portion of the job, too.

“Coaches need to be helping others to make sure they’re in a good situation,” Detling said. “Be real with your athletes and support them in any way they can.”

For instance, Detling spoke about seniors again. She said coaches could help out seniors by continuing to contact college coaches about their athletes should he or she have a player who wants to pursue playing at the next level. It’s a way to help the athlete and interacting with another coach helps him or herself, too.

Whenever the verdict for high school sports is announced, and regardless of what it is, Detling believes parents will be hit harder than the athletes.

“I never would have said that until I became a parent myself,” Detling said. “Parents want so much what’s best for their kids and hurt 10 times more when the kids hurt.”

Detling does urge parents — especially those of seniors — to take a step back and look at the big picture of the entire person they helped mold during their adolescent years.

“Celebrate and promote the whole child and not just their accomplishments as an athlete,” Detling said.

While doing this, the parents need to focus on themselves, too. They can not be so dialed into helping their children get through the loss that they lose sight of their own mental well being.

“If parents can take care of themselves first, they’ll be able to truly help their child,” Detling added. “You can look back at the disappointing and difficult time, but recognize other things and why you’re so proud of your son or daughter.”

Getting through this process may take some time.

Sports being taken away for a faction of people can lead to a “grieving process” which Detling believes is a totally common emotion.

“Anytime there’s a loss (in life), there’s a grieving process,” Detling noted. “Athletes, parents and coaches facing a loss (of sports) are going to have a natural time of grief.”

Though sports are important to a lot of us, Detling doesn’t compare that type of loss to the death of a loved one. Quite simply, everyone — at some point — moves on from being involved in sports. High school and college athletes graduate, professional athletes retire, coaches at all levels retire, parents’ children move on, so they’re not as invested.

“There will come a time when people aren’t as emotionally connected to sports,” Detling said. “You’re able to look forward, which allows the emotions to subside and go away because of what’s coming next.”

The Class of 2020 is a group that may take longer to come to grips with the finality of things because, on top of athletics, other memorable events like prom and even graduation are up in the air.

Detling urges people to communicate and it doesn’t have to be with your parents or coaches. Simple things like talking to a friend or really branching out and talking to someone you don’t know that well just to get the confirmation that you’re not alone in this ordeal.

“Basically, every senior across the country is dealing with the same things,” Detling said. “Use the technology that is available. Get on Skype, Zoom and connect with teammates and/or classmate. Talk about what’s appreciated, enjoyed, moving forward, etc. It will help to provide some type of closure.”