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They're rarely in the high-school sports spotlight, and when they are, it usually isn't good news.
But the two athletic trainers who attend area prep sporting events and tend to the physical fitness needs of the athletes play just as big a role in the success of a team as the athletes themselves.
Mark Porter and Amy Whitley have been given just such a responsibility. As employees of the North Mississippi Medical Center, the pair can be seen on the sidelines and in the dugouts of the three area high schools.
Their main responsibilities include taping ankles and wrists — both healthy and sore — along with nursing the more severe injuries and giving physicals at the school year's end.
While the two have chosen careers as athletic trainers and remain, for the most part, on the sidelines, they both are themselves former athletes.
Porter played college basketball, while Whitley participated in fast- and slow-pitch softball in high school, then played softball and basketball in college.
Mark Porter
"I like what I do," said Porter, 36, "because I can be a positive influence on the high school athletes.
"The high school kids," Porter added, "have a sense of humor. They don't know how good they are. They're still learning. There isn't the arrogance part of it."
Like many of the athletes with whom she works, Whitley, 26, is still learning her craft.
Amy Whitley
A 2001 graduate of New Site High School and a 2005 grad of Mars Hill College, near Asheville, N.C., Whitley is in her first full-time athletic trainer job since earning her Master's Degree in Health Promotion from Mississippi State University in 2007.
"I wanted to help people and stay around sports," said Whitley, whose older sister plays slow-pitch softball for Northeast Mississippi C.C.
"I started out in Nursing and realized that wasn't for me. Sports is what I've known all my life."
Part of the job
While both have dealt with their share of injuries, Porter experienced a gruesome one even for him with the season-ending compound fracture to the leg of then-North Pontotoc quarterback Ivan Perez midway through last season.
Whitley, on the other hand, has been fortunate. The list of injuries she's had to treat include puncture wounds, dislocated fingers and her least favorite, dislocated shoulders.
"Putting them back into place isn't very appealing," Whitley said.
Porter’s been around
As his age would likely indicate, Porter is the more experienced of the two trainers. The father of a 4-year-old son earned his Bachelor's Degree in Sports Medicine and Athletic Training from Southern Mississippi University in 1997.
After college, Porter took a part-time position as an athletic trainer for the Atlanta Falcons pro football franchise, where he worked with the players on the team's strength and conditioning and rehabilitation programs.
In 1998, Porter became a full-time, contracted athletic trainer for the Falcons, a job he held for the next six seasons.
He then came to Pontotoc County, where he began working with coaches and athletes at North Pontotoc High School.
"It was special working for the Falcons," Porter said. "The problem was I had so much to learn."
Porter said other problems centered around the athletes themselves.
"The athletes had attitudes," he said. "They came in when they wanted. They wanted the hot tubs and other things a certain way. It was almost comical sometimes. You couldn't keep some guys happy."
During his time in Atlanta, Porter met former Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. Porter said Vick, currently suspended from the National Football League, kept to himself.
"He was a real studier," Porter said. "He was always looking at his playbook."
Porter added that he became close friends with Morten Anderson due to the veteran placekicker's work with numerous charitable organizations.
"I love that guy," Porter said of Anderson.
"He was always getting involved with charities and signing footballs for kids. He had an incredible heart."
Whitley’s catching up
While Whitley has yet to meet any worldly renowned athletes in her career, she said she enjoys her time working with athletes and coaches at Pontotoc and South Pontotoc.
"The athletes and coaches are easy to work with," she said. "When you have someone pleasant to work with, it makes everything easier."
Whitley also credited Porter for helping her learn the ropes of being an athletic trainer in Pontotoc County.
"When I first started, he had to show me how it worked," Whitley said. "I had to get used to doing more than one school.
"Mark's been here longer than me," she continued. "He probably thinks it's easy. It's kind of chaotic at times, but you get used to it."
Home folks
Whitley, who is single and lives in Tupelo, says being an athletic trainer in Pontotoc County leaves little time to spend with friends and for dating.
"You work probably every other weekend," she said, "so there's not much of a social life. But there's no reason to get headaches about it.
“Maybe 20 years from now I'll start worrying about it,” she added. “But right now, I'm fine with it."
Porter said he's just happy to be out of the professional sports scene and able to finally slow down with the end of the 2008-09 prep sports schedule.
"We're getting back to a decent work load," he said.
"That stuff got old in the NFL. The time here is more social. You get more of a personal life. It's good for me."
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