Last November, Dr. Emre Eren found himself at the Freeski Slopestyle World Cup in Austria with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team, playing Yahtzee with Olympians.
“It’s not something that I ever expected that I’d be doing if you asked me five years ago, but now that I’m doing it, I can’t really imagine not,” Eren said of working with the team.
As an associate team physician for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team, Eren carves out a couple of weeks each year to work and travel with the team, providing sideline care as needed. Full-time, he is an orthopedic foot and ankle surgeon at Summa Health in Akron.
Although Eren is not with the team at the Olympics this year, he was there to watch them qualify in real time, which he said was a very cool experience. In January, he accompanied the slopestyle ski team to Switzerland for one of their final qualifying events.
“I’m very honored to work with the athletes and the coaches, and watching how they progress and how they compete, it’s been an amazing experience for me," he said. "It’s something for the foreseeable future I can plan on continuing doing, as long as I have the opportunity to.”
How Emre Eren became an Olympic team physician
During his fellowship at the Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado, Eren had the opportunity to work with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team, as the clinic is one of the team's main providers. He said he really clicked with the freeski and slopestyle teams, and he has been working with them for about the past three years.
“If a doctor meshes really well with the team or the coaches and the athletes … we like to have them come back,” said Courtney Kenefick, athletic trainer with the U.S. freeski and slopestyle teams. “The athletes feel comfortable on the different trips when they know who the doctor is with us.”
To work with the team, Kenefick said doctors go through a course and get put into a pool of physicians who are picked to go on different trips with each team. There are 10 total specialities within the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team.
Eren meshed so well with the team members that he's attended several of their Thanksgiving dinners, and the athletes have requested to have him come back on trips, Kenefick said.
“He’s a bit younger compared to some of the other physicians we have, and he also skis, so it’s really great that he shares passion with the athletes,” Kenefick said.
Dr. Eren: 'My best day is a day where nobody gets hurt'
During competitions and training days, Eren's main responsibility is to be there for bumps and bruises and to make sure the athletes can continue competing if they have sustained injuries.
“My best day is a day where nobody gets hurt,” Eren said. “I get to sit there, watch them, watch the amazing view on the mountains and watch them compete.”
Because this is a job for the Olympians, he said he does everything he can to keep them working.
“The athletes really love having a doctor around,” Kenefick said. “I think they respect what they do and really feel very comfortable with someone who has such strong medical knowledge, and it makes them feel safer in what they’re doing, because what they’re doing is pretty dangerous and pretty crazy.”
Kenefick said having doctors there is extremely helpful to her, as they know how to navigate the hospital system and can communicate what’s happening.
What it’s like traveling with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team
The atmosphere of competitions is electric, Eren said, speaking of his time in Switzerland.
“You see the best of the best competing against each other … Watching everyone basically be fully dialed in for their sport and seeing such elite athletes doing what they do, it was a very surreal experience and very cool for me to be a part of,” he said.
Outside of competing, he said traveling with the team is like traveling with locals because they’re all so familiar with the competition destinations.
“I get to see it through their eyes,” he said. “I’ve always said I would go to Switzerland by myself anyway, and now I get to do it with the USA Ski Team.”
During the weeks he’s working with the team, Eren sees the athletes every day, and they hang out outside of practice.
“I feel very lucky to be able to call them friends at this point,” he said.
Lauren Cohen is a community reporting intern for the Akron Beacon Journal and Signal Akron. The position is funded through a grant from the Knight Foundation.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Dr. Emre Eren of Summa Health helps U.S. Olympic skiers go for gold