Mia Hamm: A Remarkable Athlete

She wass the youngest player on the women's national soccer team, and was also the first U.S. player to ever score one hundred goals in a career of soccer. In 1999, she became the world's leading goal scorer in international competition, among males or females. The Nike Corporation honored her in 1999 when they named their largest corporate campus building after her. In the same year, she formed her foundation, leaf the U.S. to the World Championship at FIFA Women's World Cup, and was once again the winner of ESPN's "Espy" award for Female Athlete of the Year and Soccer Player of the Year.

She was a member of the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Team, the founding member of the Women's United Soccer Association, and was named FIFA Women's World Player of the Year in 2001 and 2002, and averaged a goal every sixty-three minutes. These are only some of the many accomplishments of one of the best female athlete's, Mia Hamm.

Just a small town girl from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Mariel Margaret Hamm, went on to accomplish her goal. She was born on March 17, 1972, in Selma, Alabama. Her parents Colonel Bill and Mrs. Stephanie Hamm raised their daughter along with her five other siblings. Most of Hamm's childhood was spent moving from one Air Force base to another throughout the world; California and Italy were once known as home. Colonel Hamm's love for soccer is what encouraged Mia's involvement with the sport.

"You moved to a new base and had new friends as soon as you joined the team," was a familiar quote of Mia's. Eventually, the game of soccer became an integral part of Mia's everyday life. However, Garrett Hamm, her older brother loved soccer even more. When Mia Hamm was six years of age, her parents adopted an eight-year-old Thai-American orphan, Garrett. This made her the fourth oldest out of six children. She looked up to Garrett as an athletic role model and as one of her heroes. Unfortunately, at the age of sixteen, he was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder, known as aplastic anemia.

Years later, in 1994, Mia Hamm married Christian Corry, a United States Navy pilot. The marriage wasn't working out due to the continuous stress of Mia's goal-oriented nature. Her status as a Women's Olympic and International Soccer player left little time for her husband. After a failed marriage and separation from her husband, Mia kept her eye on the game. Unfortunately, her brother's condition, which had been under control, took a turn for the worse the night before the 1996 Olympics. However, Garrett was there to see the U.S. Women's team beat China during the Atlanta Olympics, and leave with the gold.

Sadly, Garret succumbed to aplastic anemia and died only a year later after he had a bone marrow transplant. He left behind a wife and son, Dillon. Hamm once said how much she admired her brother. "I learned so much through him; about perseverance, about grace, about dignity," Hamm said. Although a very private person, Mia Hamm was determined to keep the media at bay and tell them as little about her personal affairs as possible. In 2001, her divorce to the navy pilot became final.

In 2002, Mia became engaged to Nomar Garciaparra. He was then a baseball star with the Boston Red Sox, but later played for the Chicago Cubs. On November 22, 2003, they were married in Fontana, California in a private ceremony.

Mia Hamm is only thirty-five years of age and has been extremely successful throughout her life. In 1987, at the young age of fifteen, she became the youngest woman to play with the United States National Team. She has won four NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) championships with the University of North Carolina during the year 1989, 1990, 1992, and 1993. Selected to play for the NCAA All-Tournament Team in 1989 and 1990 prepared her for the All-American and ACC Player of the Year Awards, which were won in 1990, 1992, and 1993.

Once again, in the same three years, she led the nation in scoring at the collegiate level. At the age of nineteen, and the youngest player on the World Championship-winning U.S. Team, Hamm was able to prove herself once again. She went on to win The Missouri Athletic Club and Hermann Awards for Outstanding Collegiate Soccer in 1992 and 1993; completing her collegiate career as ACC's all-time leading scorer in goals (103), assists (72), and points (278). She was the leading scorer, with six goals of the silver medal winning U.S. Team at the World University Games in 1993. She has been named U.S. Soccer's Female Athlete of the Year for five consecutive years beginning in 1994 and ending in 1999.

At the University of North Carolina where she wore number 19, it was decided that her number be retied in 1994, which no longer allowed any female soccer player at the university to wear it again. She received the prestigious Honda-Broderick Award as the nation's outstanding female collegiate athlete in 1994 and 1995. In 1994 she won the U.S. CONCACAF (Confederation of North Central American and Caribbean Association Football) qualifying championship, scoring six goals in three games. In 1995 she was on the U.S. Team FIFA Women's World Championships; started all games and scored twice during the tournament.

She played in the U.S. Women's Cup in Norway as a selected tournament's MVP with five goals and six assists in 1995. As a member of the gold medal-winning 1996 U.S. Olympic Team in Atlanta, she was named to People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" list in 1997. Again, in 1997, she was the U.S. Women's Cup MVP for the second time, and the Women's Sports Foundation's Team Athlete of the Year. She was a nominee and finalist for the U.S. Olympic Committee's Sportswoman of the Year; a winner of ESPN's "Espy" award for Female Athlete of the Year; Amateur Athletic Foundation World Trophy recipient and in 1998 was also a member of the Gold-Medal winning team at the Goodwill Games in New York City.

In 2002, she led her team Freedom to the Founder's Cup championship game and in 2003 she led the WUSA in assists and tied for the highest scorer in game-winning goals. Additionally, she assisted in Washington Freedom's success as Founder's Cup Champions the same year.

In September of 2003, she was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. She was the second female soccer player to ever appear on the cover. She was a member of the bronze medal-winning U.S. Team at the FIFA Women's World Cup, which was her fourth appearance in a World Cup tournament. As a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team, which was awarded the gold medal in Athens, Greece, she was elected as the first soccer player to carry the U.S. flag for the Olympic closing ceremonies. The last international soccer game of her career was played on December 8, 2004 in Carson, California. Currently, Hamm holds the record as world's all-time leading scorer, male or female, with 158 goals scored in international competition.

In 1999, the Mia Hamm Foundation was created in remembrance of her adopted brother who died of aplastic anemia. Hamm has said, "The Mia Hamm Foundation is a reflection of my life experiences. I created this foundation to benefit important issues that have directly affected me throughout my life."

Throughout her thirty-five years of life, she has received an inconceivable amount of honors, awards and accomplishments. However, these endeavors only tell us part of her life story. Not only is she a remarkable athlete, but her extraordinary talent has been channeled to provide others with a sense of self-esteem, courage and the ability to fulfill their dreams and goals.

Mia Hamm has become an excellent role model for female student athletes around the world, not just in the United States. She set out her goals early on and never wavered. She has used her honors, accomplishments and celebrity status to provide those less fortunate with a gift of like. The Mia Hamm Foundation proves that she is an honorable gold medal winner both off the field as well as on.