Mia Hamm

Mia Hamm is a true hero. Why? Well, she was the youngest player on the national team, and she was MVP since 1994. She and the rest of the team were encouraging young girls everywhere to play not just soccer, but sports in general. By now you might be wondering, was she always like this? Well, keep reading and you’ll find out.

Ever since Mia was born, she has been interested in soccer. Perhaps it was because she was born in Italy. Even when she was two, she was waddling into soccer games. Since her mother was a ballerina in her youth, she wanted Mia to take ballet. When she went to her first class, Mia thought that she was going to die! As well as having a ballerina for a mother, she also had a father who was an air force pilot. When they moved to Texas, they adopted a Vietnamese American boy named Garrett. Soon, Mia was following him and doing everything he did. You can say that she looked up to him. Garrett’s favorite sport was soccer. Guess what Mia’s favorite sport soon was. In fact, soccer seemed to be the number one sport in the Hamm household. When Mia wasn’t playing with her siblings, she was watching it being played on the TV. By the time she was unleashed onto the field, she could do things that made her stick out. She once said that the reason she was so good at soccer was because she was not as confident in other fields. She was bored with her own age group and played against older kids for a larger challenge.

Along with all her stardom came challenges and problems. When she joined the national team she was the youngest player and had to play against older and more experienced players. When their first championship came around, she rammed into a goalie and twisted her ankle. This was a problem, because they were about to play their arch-rivals, Norway. Since Mia was one of their top goal scorers, they wondered how team USA would play. When they won that game they were so proud of themselves. A few years later, they were having a great year when Mia got the news that her brother, Garrett, the one person she looked up to, passed away. These hardships helped make her a better player.

Mia Hamm had many contributions despite the challenges she had. She encouraged girls to play sports in general, not just soccer. Also, she was one of the greatest players of all time! She was also busy setting plenty of records. But I’ll tell you about that later.

Some of the many awards and recognitions Mia Hamm received are next. She received the Player of the Year, All American, and the Hermann Award twice in a row for her college career. On the national team, she was MVP since 1994. She also won the Female Athlete of the Year award. These are a few of the awards she won. Mia Hamm has three character traits that make her the person she is. One of them is determination. She was determined when she joined the USA team at age sixteen. She was determined to play well even if she was the youngest player. Also, she was such a good player that the only way to stop her was to foul her. Yet, she was determined to play the sport she loved. Mia’s determination showed whenever she scored a goal, too. Despite being determined, she was also highly emotional. She expressed herself through soccer more than anything else. Even as a young girl, she took something positive from every game. Mia Hamm was also very humble. She once said that the team’s success was as a team, not as her as an individual. She also played within the team concept, and did what was best for the team. Before she joined the national team, she was part of the University of North Carolina team. When she joined the national team she said that she was glad to be a part the UNC team. These are some of the character traits that helped Mia play well. So, now you know what makes her an amazing soccer player with great sportsmanship, as well as a great sister and great teammate. But most of all, she is a great hero.