By Brian Gotta, President of CoachDeck LLC

It’s going to be OK. We have to know it’s going to be OK. Never before have any of us experienced a crisis such as this one, and hopefully we never will again when it’s past. But it will pass. The time will come when we’re out on the fields again with our children…coaching, watching, laughing.

As much as we’d love to, we can’t rush it. We must trust the medical professionals and heed their advice. Coming back too early may only end up causing a larger outbreak that can mean even longer hiatus from the sports we love.

I am confident that sometime in the coming months we’ll be given the go-ahead, likely with some precautions in place, to ease back into normalcy, to resume our leagues and our teams and get our kids back with their teammates doing what they love.

The time between then and now will be challenging. I choose not to dwell on that. I try to take each day on its own while thinking ahead to how it will be when this is over. And as tragic as this episode in our history is, there will be some positives.

We will, hopefully, come out of this much more appreciative. We will almost surely more appreciate our health. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, after this, billions of people realized the importance of nutrition, sanitation and rest? If those who are now taking long walks to avoid boredom change their lifestyles permanently after learning how much happier they feel with daily exercise.

We will appreciate time spent with friends, human interaction. And even though it was forced upon us, we will look back fondly on being so literally close to the ones we love. We may even be glad to see traffic again, might be glad to be going into the office. We may learn new systems, be more efficient. We may learn to cook.

Things we take for granted such as evenings at a restaurant or fully-stocked grocery shelves and no lines will seem minor miracles. And maybe we’ll understand that we have it pretty good compared to most of the rest of the world.

And yes, as for sports, it will be glorious. Seeing kids in the dugout or on the sideline again, watching them mix it up on the field or on the court, this is going to take on a whole new significance. When it’s finally safe to do so we will thrill to be “out with the crowd” at the old ballgame. Heck, we’ll pack the stadiums to watch a high school JV football contest.

We are teaching out children in the way we respond to this crisis. Instead of fear and negativity, let them see hope, compassion, humor and optimism. It will get better. And when it does, we will be better.

Brian Gotta is a former professional youth baseball coach and current volunteer Little League coach and board member. He is the President of CoachDeck and also author of four youth sports novels which can be found at www.booksbygotta.com. He can be reached at brian@coachdeck.com.