Marble Falls ISD hires athletic trainer

CAPTION: Mendy Wyatt (right) and husband Robert. Courtesy photo

The Marble Falls Independent School District athletic department has its new athletic trainer.

She is Mendy Wyatt from Post Independent School District.

Wyatt has spent most of her career in west Texas, Marble Falls ISD athletic director Keri Timmerman said.

Her experience in sports athletic training stood out to him.

“Mendy has been in towns like Marble Falls,” he said. “She’s used to serving all over in different sports. She has a whole lot of football experience.”

She also has worked at West Texas Rehab where staff members provide a wide range of services that include outpatient physical therapy and occupational therapy to individuals of all ages.

Forty years ago, a torn knee was thought of as career-ending injury. But the advancement in sports medicine along with how to rehab that injury means athletes may be sidelined for a semester and a summer and can return to the athletic field in the same calendar year.

Back then coaches may have filled in as the sports trainers. But that has changed over the last few decades.

Another important difference from the 1980s to now? The role of the weight room in an athletic department, Timmerman said.

“One of the things that changed in 30 years is the relationship between strength and conditioning and coaches,” he said.

The two go hand in hand. When athletes put in the time in the weight room to be stronger and faster, their bodies are also training to be able to take the pounding that comes from their sports. Each sport demands that athletes are able to jump higher and move quickly, swiftly and faster and have the endurance to do it consistently better than the opponent.

Strength and conditioning is a big key in that, Timmerman pointed out, indicating every individual who works with Marble Falls athletes of all ages shares in this philosophy.

Wyatt is one of two athletic trainers in the department. The other is Brandon Belk, a 1997 Marble Falls High School graduate, who has been a school district employee for more than 20 years.

Timmerman said the two will split their time between the high school and the Marble Falls Middle School campus but will spend most of their time at the high school. He noted the department reflects what other school districts in Texas already do.

“At all the (Class) 6A schools, there’s one trainer at the high school, if not two,” he said. “Kids come to them from the middle school.”

The sheer volume of practices for high school and middle school athletes is different. High school practices can start before sunrise and others end at 6 p.m. Meanwhile middle school athletes’ practices usually don’t start that early and may not go that late.

This will be the second year Marble Falls ISD will have two trainers. Charlie “Doc” Harrington, who was the athletic coordinator for sports medicine and middle school athletics, retired at the end of the 2023-24 school year.

Dr. Stephanie Thompson served as a Marble Falls ISD athletic trainer for several years before resigning to take a lateral position at Burnet Consolidated Independent School District.