Mia Hamm

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My definition of a hero is somebody you look up to because of their accomplishments. They also have to be able to stand up for what they believe in too. My hero is Mia Hamm. She is 32 years old and she plays women's soccer for the Washington Freedom. Her position is center forward. In these next paragraphs I am going to tell you why she is my hero and what she has accomplished in her life.

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Mia Hamm played soccer at Notre Dame High School in Wichita Falls, Texas where she grew up. Then she moved and went to college at the University of North Carolina. She was a four-time member of the NCAA Championship, and a three-time All American. She was also the conference's all-time leading scorer in goals (103), assists (72), and points (278). She was also the 1993-1994 Brokerick Award Winner for all female college sports. When she finally graduated from college in 1994, her U.N.C. soccer number(19) was retired.

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Mia Hamm's professional career started when she got accepted on the Washington Freedom team. On May 16,1999, Mia Hamm broke the all-time international scoring record for men and women. In 2000, she led the USA team to the World Championship where they would win. Mia Hamm scored the game winning goal with a penalty kick. She was the MVP of that game too. Mia Hamm has appeared internationally 136 times. She has scored a total of 81 goals. Her first goal was scored July 25,1990 against Norway.

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Mia Hamm has been recognized as a good soccer player, not just by me. She was featured on the cover of the second ever edition of Sports Illustrated magazine for women. Mia Hamm had the honor of being named the Women's Sports Foundation athlete of the year in 1997. In 1998, she won the ESPN award for outstanding female athlete at their awards show.

One of the most important things Mia Hamm has done was to open a foundation in 1999 to benefit bone marrow research. That's really cool because she is helping many children out there who have this disease.

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This all sums up why Mia Hamm is my hero. She has inspired many young soccer players including myself. Whenever I have a bad game or my team loses, I just think of Mia Hamm and how she always tried and never gave up no matter how bad it got. When Mia got hurt she never gave up either. I hope you understand why Mia Hamm is my hero.