- Mia Hamm
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Mia Hamm 
Personal information Full name Mariel Margaret Hamm Date of birth March 17, 1972 Place of birth Selma, Alabama, United States Height 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) Playing position Forward Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1989–1993 North Carolina Tar Heels 100 (103) 2001–2003 Washington Freedom 49 (25) National team‡ 1987–2004 United States 275 (158) HonoursCompetitor for USA Women's football (soccer) Competitor for the USA Olympic Games Gold Atlanta 1996 Team competition Gold Athens 2004 Team competition Silver Sydney 2000 Team competition * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 28, 2007.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of June 29, 2007Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm (born on March 17, 1972, in Selma, Alabama) is a retired American soccer player. Hamm played many years as a forward for the United States women's national soccer team and was a founding member of the Washington Freedom. Hamm has scored more international goals in her career than any other player, male or female, in the history of U.S. soccer (158).[1] She is the second most capped female player in soccer history behind Kristine Lilly, appearing in 275 international matches throughout her career.
Hamm was named the women's FIFA World Player of the Year the first two times that award was given (in 2001 and 2002), and is listed as one of FIFA's 125 best living players (as chosen by Pelé). Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon called Hamm, "Perhaps the most important athlete of the last 15 years."[2]
She retired from the sport in 2004, when she played her last game in the 2004 Fan Celebration Tour to commemorate the U.S. women's national team's victory in the 2004 Olympics. In 2007, her first year of eligibility, she was selected for induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame by having 137 votes of the 141 ballots cast. Women's Professional Soccer, a professional soccer league that launched in 2009, features Hamm's silhouette in its logo.[3]
Inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2006. [4]
Hamm was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame on March 11, 2008.[5]
Mia Hamm clashes with Germany 1998.
She is the author of Go For the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life. She appeared in the HBO documentary Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team.
Hamm takes a corner kick.Contents
Early years
Hamm was born with a club foot and had to wear corrective shoes as a toddler.[6] Hamm spent her childhood on Air Force bases with her parents, Bill and Stephanie Hamm, and her five siblings. The family moved many times and resided in several places including San Antonio, Texas, and Italy.[7] Hamm played organized sports from a very young age, and at age fifteen she joined the U.S. women's national team, becoming the youngest ever to play for them.[8] She played for Notre Dame Catholic High School, Wichita Falls, Texas, as a freshman and a sophomore. Hamm then attended Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Va for one year, and helped the Lake Braddock soccer team win the 1989 state championships.[9] Mia Hamm's brother played sports, inspiring her to do so as well.
She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she helped the Tar Heels to four National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women's championships in five years (she sat out the season of 1991 to concentrate on the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup in China). North Carolina only lost one game in ninety five she played.[9] She was an All-American and Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year for her last three years. She also won ACC Female Athlete of the Year in 1993 and 1994.
Women's national team
In 1991, when the women's national team won the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time, Hamm became the youngest American woman to win a World Cup championship at the age of nineteen.
She was also a member of the American National college team that played in the 1993 Summer Universiade and lost to China, obtaining the silver medal. She was the leading scorer with six goals. She graduated from college with the all-time records for her conference in goals with 103, assists with 72, and total points with 278.
On May 22, 1999, Hamm broke the all-time international goal record with her 108th goal in a game against Brazil in Orlando, Florida.
Hamm in pregame workout.In 1999, Nike named the largest building on their corporate campus after Hamm, and that same year she and the rest of the women on the national team became world champions again by winning the FIFA Women's World Cup. The final match surpassed the Atlanta Olympic final as the most-attended women's sports event, with over 90,000 filling the Rose Bowl.
Hamm was named the 1997 Sportswoman of the Year (in the team category) by the Women's Sports Foundation.[9]
On May 14, 2004, she announced her retirement effective after the 2004 Athens Olympics, expressing an interest in starting a family with her husband, Nomar Garciaparra.[10][11]
In March 2004, Hamm and former U.S. teammate Michelle Akers were the only two women, and the only two Americans, named to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living soccer players selected by Pelé and commissioned by FIFA for that organization's 100th anniversary.
In a friendly game against Australia on July 21, 2004, Hamm scored her 151st international goal; she has long held the record in that category for any player, male or female. This match also marked her 259th international appearance; only her teammate Kristine Lilly has played in more internationals.
She helped lead Team USA to a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and was also chosen by her fellow U.S. Olympians to carry the American flag at the Athens Closing Ceremonies. After the Olympics, Hamm and her teammates went on a "farewell tour" of the United States, which finished on December 8, 2004 against Mexico at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. In the game, which the U.S. won 5–0, Hamm assisted on two of the goals. Hamm is one of three longtime national team members who announced their retirements from international play at the end of the tour; the others are longtime captain Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett (Fawcett did not play due to back surgery after the Olympics). Hamm retired with 158 international goals at age thirty-two.
Club
For the majority of Hamm's career there was no fully professional women's soccer league in the United States. As a result she played only three seasons of club soccer. In 2001 she signed for the Washington Freedom in the newly established Women's United Soccer Association. The league suspended operations indefinitely in September 2003, but Hamm finished her short club career as a champion when the Freedom won the Founders Cup in that final season.
Personal life
Her adoptive brother, Garrett Hamm, died on April 16, 1997 of complications from aplastic anemia, a rare blood disease. Hamm established the Mia Hamm Foundation in part to support patients and their families who benefit from bone marrow transplants.
Hamm was first married to her college sweetheart Christiaan Corry, a United States Marine Corps CH-53E helicopter pilot; they divorced in 2001.[12][13]
Hamm married then-Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra on November 22, 2003, in Goleta, California in a private ceremony, attended by three hundred guests. On March 27, 2007, Hamm gave birth to twin girls, Grace Isabella and Ava Caroline. Though born five weeks early, each girl weighed over 5 pounds (2.3 kg) at birth.[14] Twins run in both Hamm's and Garciaparra's families.[15]
Coaching and other work
Mia has teamed up with former national team players, Tisha Venturini and Kristine Lilly, to operate the TeamFirst Soccer Academy. TeamFirst specializes in conducting youth soccer camps throughout the nation.
Hamm is a global ambassador for FC Barcelona. She also hosts an annual celebrity soccer game in Los Angeles to support her foundation which raises funds for families needing marrow and cord blood transplants.[16]
Championships
Year Team Championship/Medal 1989 UNC NCAA National Champion 1990 UNC NCAA National Champion 1991 USA women's national team FIFA World Cup Champion 1992 UNC NCAA National Champion 1993 UNC NCAA National Champion 1995 USA women's national team FIFA World Cup Third Place 1996 USA women's national team Olympic Gold 1999 USA women's national team FIFA World Cup Champion 2000 USA women's national team Olympic Silver 2003 Washington Freedom WUSA Founder's Cup Champion 2003 USA women's national team FIFA World Cup Third Place 2004 USA women's national team Olympic Gold References
- Notes
- ^ "Mia Hamm to receive Freedom honor". Associated Press. May 1, 2009. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=642459&cc=5901.
- ^ Dave Zirin, What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States, 2005. Haymarket Books. ISBN 1-931859-20-5
- ^ "Hamm's imprint made on new women's soccer league". USA Today. January 18, 2008. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/2008-01-18-hamm-silhouette-logo_N.htm.
- ^ "Hamm Inducted into Alabama Sports Hall of Fame class of 2006". http://www.ashof.org/index.php?src=directory&srctype=display&id=361&view=company_detail.
- ^ "Hamm added to Texas Sports Hall of Fame class". ESPN Soccernet. February 6, 2008. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=505776&cc=5901.
- ^ Hilton, Lisette (August 30, 2004). Feet of Gold. ESPN. http://espn.go.com/classic/s/add_hamm_mia.html. Retrieved July 8, 2009.
- ^ "Sports Speaker Mia Hamm". http://www.brooksinternational.com/Mia_Hamm_610.htm.
- ^ "Mia Hamm – Class of 2007". National Soccer Hall of Fame. http://national.soccerhall.org/famers/mia_hamm.htm.
- ^ a b c http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=308753&paper=69&cat=105
- ^ ESPNsoccernet – US – Hamm, Foudy retire in style
- ^ ESPN – Hamm says she wants to focus on family – Olympics
- ^ "Mia Hamm – Most Beautiful, Mia Hamm". People.com. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20122081,00.html. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
- ^ Longman, Jere (20 July 2001). "Hamm Pays Personal Price for Soccer". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/20/sports/soccer-hamm-pays-personal-price-for-soccer.html. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
- ^ Stueven, Michele (March 27, 2007). "Soccer Star Mia Hamm Welcomes Twin Girls". People. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20011841,00.html.
- ^ Harris, Beth (February 28, 2007). twins were over 5 pounds when they were born 122/story/548045.html "Mia, Foudy elected to soccer hall: Former UNC great receives record number of votes in first year of eligibility". News and Observer. http://www.newsobserver.com/the twins were over 5 pounds when they were born 122/story/548045.html.
- ^ Wahl, Grant, "Seeing Stars", Sports Illustrated, 4 July 2011, p. 101.
- Sources
- Mia Hamm: High Heels and Football at the International Olympic Committee website
External links
- Mia Hamm's U.S. Olympic Team bio, with photos, video
- Mia Hamm Foundation
- Mia Hamm at the Internet Movie Database
- Works by or about Mia Hamm in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Preceded by
new creationFIFA World Player of the Year
2001, 2002Succeeded by
Birgit PrinzUnited States squads United States squad – 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup Champions (1st Title) 
United States squad – 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup Third Place United States squad – 1996 Summer Olympics (Women's Soccer) - Gold Medal United States squad – 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Champions (2nd Title) United States squad – 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup Third Place Categories:- 1972 births
- Living people
- United States women's international soccer players
- American women's soccer players
- FIFA 100
- FIFA Century Club
- FIFA World Player of the Year winners
- Association football forwards
- Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- People from Selma, Alabama
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni
- Olympic soccer players of the United States
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States
- North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer players
- ACC Athlete of the Year
- Soccer players from Alabama
- Soccer players from North Carolina
- Women's United Soccer Association players
- Washington Freedom players
- 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players
- 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players
- 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players
- Olympic medalists in football
- 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup players
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