Mia Ham Research Paper

Mariel Margaret Hamm was born on March 17th, 1972 in the small town of Selma, Alabama. As the fourth of six children born into this military family, Mia moved around constantly and spent her early years as a toddler in Florence Italy, where she was initially introduced to her life passion of women’s soccer. However, Mia was born with clubfoot and wore corrective braces as a toddler, thus preventing her to participate in any sport at a young age. Her love for sports truly began at the age of five on a soccer team her dad coached, continued throughout middle school as a played on the boy’s football team and then in high school as a starting forward in soccer. Her soccer life began to excel when at age 15 she joined the United States Women’s national soccer team – thus becoming the youngest in history to be selected to join such an elite group of soccer stars.

A few years later, after joining the National team, she was added to the roster and played as a forward and occasionally filled in as goalie for international games. With such skill and knowledge of the game, Hamm graduated from Lake Braddock Secondary School and was recruited to the University of North Carolina by Anson Dorrance, the current head coach. Dorrance proved as a major supporter and guide in Hamm’s life due to her lack of confidence in her own skills and he pushed her to

In honor of her brother, this traumatic event led her to create the Mia Hamm Foundation, which is dedicated to raise awareness and help fund families struggling from the hardships of bone marrow transplants. Aside from her foundation, Mia actively encourages the participation in sports, with a bias towards soccer. Moreover, as one of the most targeted athletes for endorsements, she challenged Michael Jordan in Nike Commercial for more of a female-dominated sports