Meet the Coaches
RFC's professional coaching staff will help you and your fencer develop skills needed to compete locally and nationally. They offer years of experience in the sport and bring this knowledge to our fencers.
Anatolie Senic
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Head Foil Coach
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Coaching 18 years
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Assistant Coach Wayne State University 10 years
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2004 and 2005 Moldovan National Champion
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World Championship participant 2005 – 2018
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Safe Sport Certified
Anatolie Senic is the Head Foil Coach for the Renaissance Fencing Club and runs the Pre Elite and Elite foil programs. He was born in Chisinau, Moldova and has been living in the United States since 1999. Anatolie has been fencing for 38 years and is an A rated fencer. He was the Moldovan National Champion in 2005 and 2006. He was a member of the RFC men's foil team that won the bronze medal at the 2013 NAC in Cleveland. Anatolie participated in the World Championships in 2005, 2006, 2011, 2015, 2017, and 2018. He has a Master of Sports degree from the former USSR. Anatolie is the Head Foil coach at Wayne State University. He has three children who all fence. Anatolie enjoys coffee, skiing, and is an avid soccer fan.
Todd Dressell
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Club President
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Head Sabre & Epee Coach
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Certified Prevot Sabre Coach
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Head Fencing Coach at the University of
Detroit Mercy 22 Years -
NCAA Fencing Committee & Midwest Fencing Conference Commissioner
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Safe Sport Certified
Todd Dressell has been fencing for 28 years and has been coaching for 25 years. He is the Head Sabre Coach at the Renaissance Fencing Club and runs the Elite and Pre Elite Sabre Programs. Todd was one of the original Renaissance Fencing Club founders. He is the Head Coach at the University of Detroit Mercy. He is the Commissioner of the Midwest Fencing Conference and served 2 terms on the NCAA Fencing Committee. Todd has two sons who both fence at the NCAA level. Todd enjoys his cottage up north where he hunts and rides his snowmobile.
Svitlana Shevchenko
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Lead Foil Coach
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Safe Sport Qualified
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Head Coach of Team Ukraine for Women's Foil, 2013 - 2017
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Coaching for 20 years
Svitlana Shevchenko, known as Coach Lana, has been coaching for more than 20 years. She started fencing when she was just 7 years old. Svitlana was the head coach for the Former USSR/Ukrainian womens foil team from 2013 - 2017 and led her teams to many international medals at World Cups and World Championship. She was also personal coach of the Silver Medalist of the Ukrainian Junior National Championships in 2016 and of the Gold Medal team in the same year. Her fencers won individual bronze and logged a top 8 team performance at the 2014 Zagreb Junior World cup and fourth place at the Timisoara Junior World Cup.
Svitlana is married and has two children who both fence - an 18 year old daughter and an 11 year old son. She enjoys traveling especially going to new cities and learning the history and architecture of places she visits.
Maestro
Leonid Shapiro
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Over 50 years coaching experience
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Former Head Coach Ukranian Junior
Olympic Sports Center -
Safe Sport Certified
Maestro Shapiro has been coaching for more than 50 years. His hometown is Kiev, U.S.S.R. He started fencing at the age of 12. He started in Foil, but switched to Sabre a couple of years later. He was on the junior Ukrainian National team for two years. He began coaching when he was 23 years old. At first he coached all three weapons. He had several students who were medalists in the USSR National Championships.
Maestro Shapiro was the Ukrainian National Women Foil Team Head Coach for ten years. Between 1980 and 1990 his students won Ukrainian National Championships every year. He was the Overall Ukrainian National Team Manager from 1990 until 2000. He has a group of very successful students working in Ukraine, Germany, and the United States.
Maestro Shapiro came to the United States in 2000 and has coached at RFC for 17 years. He lives in Royal Oak, Michigan with his wife and has one son and grandson. He enjoys drinking kvas (an eastern European non-alcoholic drink), ravioli, and loves any kind of jam, especially cherry and apricot. His beloved hobby is frequenting garage sales as they do not exist in Eastern Europe.
Beth Vance
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RFC Board Member
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Beginning Coach for Foil, Sabre & Epee
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Safe Sport Certified
Beth Vance began fencing about 20 years ago as an alternative to aerobics, and has not been back to aerobics class since! A member of the Renaissance Fencing Club since 2000, Beth began fencing foil with an occasional saber competition, and now that is reversed.
Results include third at the 2012 December Vet Saber Combined NAC, 5th a the March 2013 NAC for Saber Vets 50, and was a member of the 2013 Team USA for Veteran Worlds. Beth served as Chair of the Michigan Fencing Division from 2004 – 2005.
Beth holds a Marketing Degree from Michigan State University and enjoys a career in IT. In her free time, Beth enjoys golf and bike riding.
Ann Marsh-Senic
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Club Business Manager
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Coaching 20 years
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1994 and 1995 US National Champion
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3 Time Olympian
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10 Time World Cup finalist
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Safe Sport Certified
Ann Marsh-Senic has been fencing for 35 years and coaching for 20. Her hometown is Royal Oak, MI. She started fencing at Roeper School. She was the 1994 and 1995 US National Champion. She was the first US fencer to be ranked in the top 10 in the world and was ranked there for five years from 1993 - 1997. Ann was 7th individually at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and 4th in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games by team. Ann made 10 World Cup finals, won three world cup bronze medals, and was the first US fencer to win a bronze medal at a Grand Prix World Cup.
Ann obtained her BA from Columbia University and her medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine.
She is specialized in Emergency Medicine and works full time as an Emergency Physician. Ann lives with her husband and three children in Royal Oak. She enjoys Mexican food, foreign languages and all sports.
Lucia Procopio
Welcome to RFC Coach Lucia!
Lucia has been fencing for 11 years and coaching for 3. Lucia’s hometown is Long Beach, California. She was a successful walk-on to the Northwestern University fencing team; by her senior year, Lucia was Team Captain and compiled the team's highest win record at 0.86, going 49 - 8. She won the silver medal at the Minneapolis DIV 2 North American Cup.
Lucia graduated in 2018 with a degree in history and anthropology. Lucia developed and directed fencing programs in Chicago schools for three years before coming to RFC.
Lucia works as an assistant coach at Wayne State University. In her free time Lucia enjoys cooking, baking, weight lifting, and visiting zoos and museums.