Mia Hamm

Mia Hamm, now 51 years old, has had a lasting impact on women's soccer and sports everywhere, in the United States, and beyond. Hamm was a member of the United States Women's National Soccer Team, with whom she went to 4 World Cups and 3 Olympic Games, as well as holding the record for most international goals scored, by male or female players, until 2013. Mia Hamm retired from competition in 2004, but remains involved to this day.

Biography

Mariel Margaret Hamm-Garciaparra, or Mia Hamm, was born March 17, 1972 in Selma, Alabama. She is one of seven children, one of which, her brother Garrett, is adopted. As a child, she had to wear corrective shoes because she was born with a club foot, a foot that turned in- and downward. She also spent much of her childhood traveling to a variety of Air Force bases. At on of these such bases, in Florence, Italy, was where she first began playing soccer. When she was five, Hamm joined her first team in Wichita Falls, Texas with her dad as a coach. In junior high, Hamm had to play on the boys' soccer team, but she still exceled. As a freshman and sophmore in highschool she played for Notre Dame Catholic High School in Wichita Falls. Then, in 1987 she played at the Olympic Festival, becoming the youngest player to play for the US Women's National Team. Hamm also spent a year at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia, and helped the Lake Braddock soccer team win the 1989 state championships. Next, she played with the North Carolina Tar Heels before becoming a full-time player for the national team. In 1994, she got married to her college sweethart Christian Corry. Mia Hamm was also a founding player in the first professional women's soccer league in the United States, the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), and played for the Washington Freedom from 2001 to 2003, before retiring in 2004 at age 32. When she began playing for the Washington Freedom she got a divorce with her husband, then got remarried in 2003 to Nomar Garciaparra. Mia Hamm gave birth to twins Grace Isabella and Ava Caroline on March 27, 2007 and Garrett Anthony in January of 2012.

Career

Throughout her soccer carrer Mia Hamm was an incredible forward setting many records in both goals scored and assits. She play for Notre Dame Catholic Highschool, Lake Braddock, the North Carolina Tar Heels, Washington Freedom, and of course, the United States Women's National Soccer Team.

International Competition

Event	Location	Result
Fifa Women's World Cup 1991	China	1st Place
Fifa Women's World Cup 1995	Sweden	3rd Place
Olympics 1996	Atlanta	Gold
Fifa Women's World Cup 1999	United States	1st Place
Olympics 2000	Sydney	Silver
Fifa Women's World Cup 2003	United States	3rd Place
Olympics 2004	Athens	Gold

Other Achievments & Awards

Awards

Other Achievments

From 1989-1993 Hamm attended the University of North Carolina, where she won four NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championships. Mia Hamm was elected U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year five years in a row from 1994 to 1998. Mia Hamm won 2 ESPY awards for Best Female Athlete and 3 ESPY awards for Best Soccer Player. In 1997 and 1999, Mia Hamm was named Sportswoman of the Year by the Woman's Sports Foundation. Hamm won 2 "World Player of the Year" awards in 2001 and 2002.

When Mia Hamm was 15 years old in 1987 she became the youngest player ever to play for the US Women's National Team. With her retiremet in 2004 Hamm was the leading goal scorer with 158 goals in international competition the most by any player male or female, though her record was broken by Abby Wambach in 2013. Mia Hamm's silhouette was used in the logo for the second professional soccer women's league in the United States. In 2013 Mia Hamm became the first female athlete to be inducted into the World Football Hall of Fame. The next year Hamm became the co-owner of the Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Football Club, with her husband Nomar Garciaparra, and numerous others.

Where is she now?

Today Hamm lives in Southern California with her husband, raising their three kids. She is a co-owner of Los Angeles FC, a global ambassador for FC Barcelona, and is on the board of directors of Serie A club A.S. Roma. She cowrote a book with Aaron Heifetz entitled Go for the Goal: A Champion’s Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life, and wrote the juvenile fiction book Winners Never Quit. She also founded the Mia Hamm Foundation. Overall, she has been one of the most influential women in soccer, and all of womens' sports history, becoming a global icon.

Influence

Mia Hamm paved the way for women everywhere to take up sports and fight for equal athletic opportunities. As Hamm continued her play with the national team, they enjoyed plenty of media attention, especially after the 1999 Olympics, that was unprecedented for a women's team. Hamm's #9 jersey became a top seller, and her popularity began to outgrw even some of her fellow male athletes. Hamm's career popularized soccer, and inspired many young girls to play. In 1999, she also created the Mia Hamm Foundation, after her brother Garrett died from complications of a rare blood disease. The organization helps raise awareness and money for those in need of bone marrow or cord blood transplants. It also is dedicated to helping young women find more opportnuities in sports. Every year, to help raise money for the foundation, Mia Hamm hosts a celebrity soccer game in Los Angeles, once known as the "Garrett Game" in honor of her brother, has evolved into the "The Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra Celebrity Soccer Challenge".

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