Emergency medicine had a hand in this year’s Olympic victories for the United States. Emergency physician Ann Marsh-Senic, MD, FACEP, served as captain of the fencing team in the 2016 Olympics. The team had a successful showing at the Rio games, bringing home silver medals in men’s individual foil and men’s individual sabre and bronze medals in men’s team foil and women’s team sabre.

An emergency physician with Independent Emergency Physicians, Dr. Marsh-Senic works at two hospitals, St. Joseph Mercy Oakland in Pontiac, Michigan, and Providence-Providence Park Hospital in Southfield, Michigan.

ACEP Now Medical Editor in Chief Kevin Klauer, DO, EJD, FACEP, recently sat down with Dr. Marsh-Senic to learn about her experiences leading the US fencing team and how she balances those responsibilities with her career as an emergency physician. Here are some highlights from that discussion.

KK: Tell me about your evolution. How did you transition into a leadership role?

Daryl Homer (left), winner of the silver medal in the individual men’s sabre at the Rio Olympics, with Ann Marsh-Senic

AM: For fencing, there’s really just one captain for the whole team. The fencing team is basically just one team. I guess you can say there are women’s and men’s, but we don’t think of it as a separate team. I competed in 1992, 1996, and 2000, and my coach was the national coach back then. A couple of years ago, he actually asked me to start traveling with them to some World Cups to have someone to bounce ideas off of when he’s in the box when the fencers are competing. He wanted my input on when he should substitute, different strategy ideas, and things to say to the fencers. My husband still competes in championships and World Cups sometimes. We actually went to the world championships in 2015 because my husband was competing. My husband is from a different country, so he competes for them.

KK: When did you last compete?

AM: Officially, I don’t compete internationally anymore seriously—but I still compete in national events.

KK: Now I have to ask you, with fencing, it all looks pretty harmless, but did you ever inflict any bodily injury on anyone with the foil?

AM: You just get bruises and stuff. It’s more likely to have an ankle or knee injury or something like that.

KK: You said you were helping advise the coach on when you were going to substitute. Do you tap out in fencing?

Men’s foil team, who won bronze medals at the Rio Olympics. Left to right: Alexander Massialas, Gerek Meinhardt, Ann Marsh-Senic, Miles Chamley-Watson, and Race Imboden.

AM: We have a few events, and so for that particular event, it’s a relay. But it’s different than in other relays because you don’t fence just the one person—you fence everyone on the other team. There are four people on the team, but there are actually three people competing. Alternates can go in and come back out.

KK: When were you named the captain of this team?

AM: In December 2015. After the world championships last year I wrote them a letter saying I’d be interested in doing it for the whole team. US fencing has like a sports performance committee that nominated me, and then the president appointed me as the captain for 2016.

KK: Well, that is really exciting. Have there been other female captains for this team?

AM: Actually, no.

KK: That’s very exciting.

AM: Yes, I guess. I never thought about it.

KK: When you are thinking of gender equity issues, any time a woman aspires to a new leadership role, I think its worthy of pause and it’s important to take notice. I understand you are very humble, and it probably didn’t cross your mind that you were breaking a glass ceiling of any kind with this. But maybe you have.

AM: I never really thought of it. I’ve only thought of it in the ways that I interact with the coaches because all of the national coaches are males.

KK: So you were selected because you were the right person.

AM: Yeah.

KK: I’m very interested to hear about your Olympic experience this past summer. What was the venue like? I heard about contaminated water and security issues.

AM: The honest truth? The venue was great. Before every Olympics, the media goes off on these tangents about water quality or safety, or they aren’t going to be ready in time. Really, we had a pretty seamless trip. The venue was spectacular, and I think the tournament was run really well. The main thing at the Olympics is to have on-time transportation that’s reliable, and that was my only worry going into it, but the transportation was perfect.

KK: With your team, was there any particular challenge, injuries or illness, or some issue that made your role as captain really critical?

AM: All season, certain people on our team have had injuries that were always worrisome. However, we had a great medical person with us.

KK: Does it ever create any conflict at all when you probably outrank the medical person who is traveling with you?

AM: No because I don’t want to be involved in that. Sometimes he’ll ask me my opinion, but that’s his specialty, sports injuries.

KK: How did your team do?

Alexander Massialas (right), winner of the silver medal in the individual men’s foil at the Rio Olympics, with Ann Marsh-Senic.

AM: We won four medals, which I think was a fantastic result. We got two silver medals and two bronze medals. I’m looking forward to Tokyo. I’m like, “Wow, we can win even more medals.”

KK: After proving to yourself that you can, I think it makes it easier on yourself in the future. I have to ask a difficult question. Does the captain get a medal?

AM: No. The captains don’t get a medal, just the athletes. What would I do with a medal?! Those are our medals though because that’s our team. I’m sure that’s how most people that are involved with the team feel.

KK: What do you see yourself doing in the future with fencing and/or emergency medicine? What are your aspirations?

AM: I’m happy to work my clinical shifts. But to be honest with you, I’m pretty likely to be doing the captain role until 2020. That’s my focus right now for the next four years.

KK: How much of a time commitment does it take to be the captain of a team like this?

AM: This year, it actually took a lot of commitment because I became captain in the last year of the quadrennium. I had to travel with the teams I wasn’t as familiar with. I went, during the eight months before the Olympics, to eight World Cups. They are mostly in Europe or in South America, so I have to take off four days from work or five days from work. Going forward, I have four years to spread it out over instead of eight months. I would think that just my main trips would be going to the world championships each year, which is about a week or a week and a half in the summer, and then potentially going to one or two World Cups a year, ramping it up a little bit more as it gets closer to Tokyo.

KK: What impact does that have on your personal life?

AM: I have two kids, so obviously I had to have more help in terms of watching them and taking care of them. But my husband was very supportive and thought I would be the right person for it, so he didn’t complain too much. My kids are happy I’m not traveling right now. Actually, he told me that my presence might actually be more important than his, so I took that as a compliment.

KK: Eleven years of marriage, two kids, and a supportive spouse—that’s absolutely great.

AM: Well, he’s a fencer, too.

KK: Have you ever fenced each other?

AM: Yes, we have quite a few times. A lot of the events in the Midwest are mixed.

KK: Did you win?

AM: The first couple times, yes, but he hadn’t fenced for 12 years. Now we try to avoid fencing each other because either he’ll let me win and then I’m annoyed or he’ll beat me and then I’m annoyed. My husband is a full-time coach, and so I help him run the fencing club here in my spare time. I actually went to Chicago last weekend to a competition and helped coach because he was also competing.

KK: Do your kids fence?

AM: They do. They just started in the last year or two. My kids are 6 and 9, so they are at the beginning of fencing. My daughter fences reluctantly.

KK: Well, maybe she’ll be a future Olympic fencer—that’s exciting.

AM: Yes, I think the bar has been set high.