Athlete of the Day: Mia Hamm

Youngest woman to play with the US National Team… At age 15, Mia Hamm was already a top-flight soccer player. That was when she joined the US National Team. A few years later, she enrolled at the University of North Carolina, where she would help lead the Tar Heels women's soccer team to four NCAA championships in five years, being named an All-American and ACC Player of the Year three of those seasons. The year they didn't win, she was devoting her time to playing for the US in the FIFA World Cup, which, yes, they won. Possibly the greatest women's soccer player ever… Winning followed Hamm around pretty much wherever she went, as she led the US women's soccer team to two golds ('96, '04) and one silver ('00) in the Summer Olympics, another FIFA World Cup championship in '99, and even a WUSA Founders Cup championship with the Washington Freedom in '03. Individually, she set the record for goals scored in international competition (men or women) in 1999, netting her 109th goal, a record she extended, now totaling 158 goals before retiring in 2004. And started her own foundation… In 1997, her brother, Garrett, died from complications that were related to aplastic anemia; two years later, she founded the Mia Hamm Foundation. The foundation's focus is two-fold: "raising funds and awareness for families needing marrow or cord blood transplants and continuing the growth in opportunities for young women in sports."

 

By the Numbers:

In January, she and her husband, Nomar Garciapparra, hosted their third annual Celeb Soccer Challenge, benefiting her charity and the Children's Hospital Los Angeles.In 2003, Hamm became the second women's soccer player to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated.Participated in the ANNIKA Experience in February, a golf tournament with Annika Sorenstam that raised more than $100,000 for children's charities.Named Soccer USA's female athlete of the year every year from 1994–1998.In 2009, she was chosen as the fourth recipient of the Heisman Humanitarian Award, which celebrates athletes "who go above and beyond to serve their community and improve the lives of others."

 

 

Photo by PR Photos.