Mia Hamm
Mia Hamm
Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm-Garciaparrais a retired American professional association football player and two time olympic gold medalist and FIFA Women's World Cup winner. 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 held the record for international goals, more than any other player, male or female, in the history of soccer, until 2013 when fellow American Abby Wambach scored her 159th goal to break...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSoccer Player
Date of Birth17 March 1972
CitySelma, AL
CountryUnited States of America
Sports can do so much. It's given me confidence, self-esteem, discipline, and motivation.
Many people say I'm the best women's soccer player in the world. I don't think so. And because of that, someday I just might be.
Every single day I wake up and commit myself to becoming a better player. Some days it happens, and some days it doesn't. Sure, there are games I'm going to dominate and there are going to be games when I struggle. But it doesn't mean I give up.
You can't just beat a team, you have to leave a lasting impression in their minds so they never want to see you again.
Learn to differentiate between what is truly important and what can be dealt with at another time.
Being a good teammate is when you try to sprint down a ball that everyone thinks is going out of bounds. But you go after it anyways and you get it.
Sports can do so much. They've given me a framework: meeting new people, confidence, self-esteem, discipline, motivation. All these things I learned, whether I knew I was learning them or not, through sports.
The vision of a champion is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion, when nobody else is looking.
I've worked too hard and too long to let anything stand in the way of my goals. I will not let my teammates down and I will not let myself down.
I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.
True champions aren't always the ones that win, but those with the most guts.
Somewhere behind the athlete you've become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back... play for her.
Sport taught me how to goal set, it really gave me a voice and identity.
Sports are not about awards or world championships, though those are great. They're about the relationships we have with each other.