Mia Hamm
Mariel Margaret Garciaparra, best known as Mia Hamm, 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 soccer (158).
Hamm is an iconic symbol of women's sports and an inspiration and role model to a generation of sports-minded girls. As part of the first generation of women to grow up with gender equality rights after Title IX passed, she received the college scholarships, endorsements and training opportunities necessary to become a top athlete. She 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."
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.
Hamm was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame on March 11, 2008.
“I learned a long time ago that there is something worse than missing the goal, and that's not pulling the trigger.”
“It isn't sacrifice if you love what you're doing.”
“My coach said I ran like a girl, I said if he could run a little faster he could too”
“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.”
“If a team intimidate you physically and you let them, they've won.”
“You don't just want to beat a team. You want to leave a lasting impression in their minds so they never want to see your face again.”
“It is more difficult to stay on top than to get there.”
“The backbone of success is...hard work, determination, good planning, and perserverence.”
“Celebrate what you have accomplished but raise the bar a little higher each time you succeed.”
“true champions arent always the ones that win,but those with the most guts.”
“You may get skinned knees and elbows, but it's worth it if you score a spectacular goal.”
“Go for the Goal!”
“A winner is that person who gets up one more time than she is knocked down.”
“Take your victories, whatever they may be, cherish them, use them, but don't settle for them.”
“The person that said winning isn't everything, never won anything.”
“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.”
“Failure happens all the time. It happens every day in practice. What makes you better is how you react to it.” Mia Hamm quote”
“Celebrate what you've accomplished, but raise the bar a little higher each time you succeed.”
“I am a member of the 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.”
“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.”
“The vision of a champion is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion, when nobody else is looking.”