Looking out for No. 1

Standing on the sidelines of local high school football games in north New Jersey, Marcia Whalen watched.

It wasn’t the game that got her wheels turning, but the people on the sidelines — or lack thereof — that caught her eye. Despite the brute force displayed in the sporting events she attended, she realized there weren’t many sports medicine doctors tending to athletes, especially in girls’ sports.

So she decided to do something about it. After her fellowship in sports medicine, Whalen, who lives in Huntington Beach and practices in Newport Beach, used her knowledge to become an Olympic physician.

“It’s the ultimate volunteerism,” Whalen said.

Whalen is one of the team physicians for the U.S. Olympic women’s water polo team, taking care of the players who represent the top-ranked team in the world.

“I am going to be glued to the TV screen at all odd hours of the night,” Whalen, 40, said.

She won’t be attending the Beijing games with the team — the lead doctor will go instead — but Whalen has been working with the team during its Olympic training in Los Alamitos.

Not just any doctor can become an Olympic physician. A doctor must have a sports-medicine background, go through a strenuous application process and fulfill other requirements before being considered.

From there, the waiting list is five years.

In March 2007, Whalen got a phone call. She was shipped to Colorado Springs, Colo., and began her Olympic training.

“It was an amazing experience,” Whalen said.

Once credentialed, doctors play another waiting game to see whether they are lucky enough to get assigned. But Whalen wouldn’t wait.

The East Coast native, who moved to Huntington Beach in 2000, decided to look around for Olympians training in Southern California. She found the water polo team and volunteered.

She took on the role of a primary care physician for the players, tending to illnesses, bumps and bruises and other injuries.

But despite the brutal nature of the sport, Whalen said she doesn’t have much to worry about.

“You would think there is a lot of injuries because it is a pretty aggressive game, but they really don’t have a lot of injuries, as they are so well tuned,” Whalen said. “Nothing will take them out of a game unless they are knocked unconscious. They are pretty tough.”

Whalen deals with chronic conditions or pain, and if anyone starts bleeding during the competition, she tries, much like a corner man in boxing, to get the injury under control.

The team leaves for the Olympic Games Tuesday, with competition starting Aug. 8.

It won’t be all cheering at the Whalen home during competition. There may be some trash talking, as well.

Whalen’s husband, Andrew, is Australian, and the No. 2 team in the world in women’s water polo happens to be representing his native country.

“It’s quite a challenge right now,” said Whalen, whose family recently attended a four-game series between the two countries in four California cities.

“When we go to games, my husband sits on the other side from us.”

MARCIA WHALEN

HOMETOWN: Born in Sharon, Pa., but grew up in Hershey, Pa.

CURRENT HOME: Huntington Beach

EDUCATION: Graduated in 1994 from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine

PROFESSION: Osteopathic physician

GENERAL PRACTICE: Newport Medical Consultants in Newport Beach

WHAT SHE LIKES ABOUT THE WEST COAST: “It is amazing to get up every morning and go for a jog on the beach.”

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.