2024-2025 Sports Medicine Staff

Jeff Hopp is in his 23rd year as the Blue Devils’ Director of Sports Medicine.  Along with caring for the MCS athletes, he also supervises the student athletic trainer program, giving Marietta High School students the opportunity to get hands on sports medicine experience as well as coordinating several safety programs for MCS.  Over the last couple of years, he has started leading students on international trips to places like Costa Rica, Ireland, England, and France with trips planned to Italy, Greece, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Prior to joining the Blue Devils medical staff he spent almost 7 years providing outreach athletic training coverage to several Cobb and Cherokee county schools for Resurgens Orthopaedics. He was the Head Athletic Trainer for the Barcelona Dragons of NFL Europe from 1995 to 1997 after working with the Minnesota Vikings in 1994 as an Assistant Athletic Trainer.  Along with his full time duties, he was part of the medical staff for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games and served as the medical coordinator for the 2007 US National Paralympic Track and Field Championships.  He has traveled with numerous US National Team Handball teams to various international tournaments including the World Championships in Besancon, France in 2001. In 2008, he ventured into the world of small business ownership with the inception of Sports Performance and Athletic Training Services, LLC. He has served as president, vice president, treasurer, and secondary schools representative for the Georgia Athletic Trainers Association.  He has served as the vice president for the Southeast Athletic Trainers Association and is a member of the Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory Traumatic Brain Injury Task Force.  He was a founding member and later chairman of the Georgia Concussion Coalition and was instrumental in passing the GA Return to Play Act in 2013.   As a member of the GHSA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee he has helped develop the GHSA heat guidelines, the GHSA pitch count rules for baseball, and has played an integral part in developing guidelines to help ensure the safety of athletes through the recent COVID pandemic. Jeff has served as a clinical instructor for Life University’s graduate athletic training program and on the advisory board for St. Augustine’s graduate athletic training program.  He was awarded the Athletic Trainer Service Award by the National Athletic Trainers Association in 2016, was named the 2020 Jerry Rhea Athletic Trainer of the Year award by the Georgia Athletic Trainers Association, and received the 21-22 MCS Superintendent’s Award for MHS.

He is a graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato (BS – Athletic Training) , is certified by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Board of Certification,  recently became a nationally registered emergency medical technician (EMT), and is licensed to practice as an athletic trainer and EMT in the state of GA.  A native of Minnesota, he lives in Dallas, GA with his wife Julie, and their 3 dogs. 

Emily has been an athletic trainer for 8 years and joined the MCS athletic training staff in 2022.

Emily played basketball in college while she studied to be an athletic trainer at Sterling College. After her bachelors, she went on to be Graduate Assistant at Lamar University where she worked with Football, Track and Field, and Women’s Tennis. After completing her graduate assistantship and gradu­ating with her Masters, she became the Head Athletic Trainer at Hardin Jefferson Independent School District; she worked there for two years before she returned home and worked as an athletic trainer at Northwest High school.

Rivera is certified with the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Board of Certification, is licensed to practice as an athletic trainer in the state of Georgia. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, she currently resides in Dallas, Georgia with her partner Kalan, their sons Mason (9) and newborn Koa and their golden doodle Beau.

Alli Bird joined Marietta City Schools Sports Medicine staff in July 2022. Along with being an athletic trainer, Alli also teaches the Health Science Pathway in the CTAE department at Marietta High School.

Bird has been practicing as an athletic trainer for 11 years providing care in the high school setting ranging from schools sized 1A to 7A. Prior to joining the Blue Devil medical staff, Bird resided in Myrtle Beach, SC for 7 years working in the high school setting as an athletic trainer before transitioning into the classroom as a full-time teacher. 

She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training from Slippery Rock University in 2013. As an athletic training student at SRU she worked with Slippery Rock’s men’s soccer team, men’s and women’s track and field team, women’s basketball team, and a stint at Slippery Rock High School. While attending SRU, Alli was a member of the women’s soccer team her first two years of attendance before focusing solely on her studies.

In the Spring of 2018, Bird received her Master of Science degree with a concentration in Advanced Athletic Training from the University of South Florida.

Currently, Alli is working on her Education Specialist degree from the University of Georgia with an emphasis in Workforce Education. She is anticipated to graduate in December of 2025. 

Bird is certified with the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Board of Certification, is licensed to practice as an athletic trainer in the state of Georgia and recently passed the NREMT exam to become a nationally registered emergency medical technician (EMT). Alli is licensed to practice as an emergency medical technician in the state of Georgia.  A native of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, in the Pocono Mountains. She currently resides in Powder Springs, GA with her two dogs, Gracie Lou and Oakley Mae.