Elizabeth Kaufman Leroux is a former tennis student that I had the privilege to coach while she was competing on the professional tennis tour. She is a great example of how the discipline and drive that tennis teaches you can be applied to every aspect of your life. Now a doctor, wife and amazing mother, here is her inspiring story.
Originally from San Diego, Elizabeth Kaufman Leroux comes from a medical family and is now a part-time doctor of emergency and sports medicine. A back injury at the age of 12 inspired Elizabeth to become a doctor and specialize in emergency medicine She attended Yale University then University of Rochester School of Medicine, followed by specialties at Stanford and Georgetown University for emergency and sports medicine. Kaufman has always been involved in sports and even had a professional tennis career. During her time at Yale, she learned a great deal about time management and once she completed college, she did a professional tennis tour before deciding on medical school. During the tour, she learned valuable lessons about humility and mental resilience, as tennis is both a physical and mental game.
Looking back, Kaufman is thankful that she learned to be organized, develop time management and to become disciplined while playing tennis. Those skills were invaluable throughout her college career and residency years. Due to this experience, Kaufman recommends playing a sport during college as it keeps young people out of trouble. “When you are training and playing sports, it keeps your mind focused on healthy goals,” Kaufman shares with Giving Back Magazine. With her job in the emergency department, there is a lot of variety and a fast pace. However, in her sports medicine role there is a very different environment. She is able to get to know her patients and sees them for return visits to follow their progress. “Being able to help someone return to a healthy state and an active lifestyle after an injury is one of the best parts of my job!” By working hard every day, Kaufman has become very successful and is fortunate to have built a career where she enjoys what she does.
Kaufman stresses that it is a constant journey to make time for everything important in her life, being a doctor and having a family is not always an easy balance. However, for her, being healthy is not hard to manage. She drinks plenty of water and strives to eat home cooked meals. She highlights that healthy food makes a big difference for her in terms of mood and energy level. Her and her husband mostly grill shrimp, fish or chicken and serve it with a big salad or other vegetables for dinner and make the leftovers into a sandwich that they can eat the next day at work. For exercise, Kaufman and her husband play tennis several times a week as well as take their 1-year old daughter on walks. No matter what her day is like, she always makes an excuse to go out and stay active keeping her life balanced, so she can remain happy and healthy.
