Mia Hamm

Chapter One: 1972–1976

Chasing the Ball

One day in 1973, on the sidelines of a soccer field in Italy, a young American girl sat with her family and watched two teams of Italian boys play soccer. No one in the family understood the game very well, but they still enjoyed watching the two teams race back and forth across the field, controlling the ball with their feet with as much skill and mastery as a basketball player handles the basketball or a hockey player the puck.

The shy young girl, just over a year old and barely able to walk, seemed particularly enthralled. Standing close to her parents, she never took her eyes off the black-and-white soccer ball. Whenever the ball bounded off the field in her direction, she giggled and toddled away from her parents, chasing after it along with other children in the crowd and trying to kick it like the players on the field.

She didn't know that girls weren't supposed to play sports. For her, it was fun to chase after the ball and kick it, to run around with other children, then sit and play in the grass together, making friends.

That's how Mia Hamm's soccer career began. Years later, her love of the sport and the friendships she made on the field would take her all over the world.

Mariel Margaret Hamm was born on March 17, 1972, in Selma, Alabama. Her father, William, was a pilot in the United States Air Force, and her mother, Stephanie, was a ballerina. Soon after she was born, her mother started calling her Mia, because the baby reminded her of a ballet teacher with the same name.

As a member of the air force, Bill Hamm was never stationed in one place for very long. In 1973, he was transferred to Italy. The entire family, which then also included an older brother and two older sisters, accompanied Bill to Florence, Italy.

When he wasn't flying airplanes, Bill Hamm loved to watch sports. But in Italy, hardly anyone played the sports Bill watched in the United States, such as baseball and football and basketball. The biggest game in Italy was soccer.

No matter where the family went, it seemed as if a soccer game was being played. In almost every open field or empty street, gangs of young boys raced after a soccer ball. Virtually every town had a men's team, and larger cities often supported several soccer clubs. Most teams were amateur, but the Italians also sponsored several thriving professional leagues. Thousands of fans turned out to support their favorite team, chanting and singing in unison in the stands and waving huge flags and banners. Televised soccer games were the most popular programs in the country.

When Bill started watching soccer, he didn't understand the game very well. Soccer wasn't popular in the United States. Only a few public schools and colleges had soccer teams. There was a professional league, the North American Soccer League, but few people went to the games and they were rarely televised. Only a handful of the players were from the United States. Most were from Europe and South America. In the United States, Bill hadn't paid attention to the game.

But in Italy, he had little choice. If he wanted to watch sports, he had to watch soccer. And the more he watched, the more he began to appreciate the sport. He realized that what had first looked to him like a bunch of players randomly running after a ball was actually a sport that demanded great athletic skill and strategy. He learned that every player on the team played a specific position, just as in basketball or hockey, and had different responsibilities. The more Bill learned about the game, the more he enjoyed it. Soon, he was a rabid soccer fan.

The family loved to do things together, and Bill started taking his family to soccer games. The children, particularly Mia, took to the game immediately. She was small for her age and usually quite shy. But when she saw a soccer ball, her eyes lit up. On the air force base, she often joined other children in impromptu games of soccer.

After only a few years in Italy, Bill was transferred again, this time back to the United States. Although the family left Italy behind, they took their love of soccer with them. They spent a brief period in California, then Bill was sent to Wichita Falls, Texas.

When they arrived there, Bill and Stephanie Hamm were pleased to learn that the community supported a youth soccer program. Little League baseball and other youth sports programs like Pop Warner football were commonplace, but youth soccer programs were still rare in the United States.

Yet ever so slowly, the sport was becoming more and more popular. Unlike many other sports, soccer doesn't require a great deal of equipment. It is relatively safe for children even as young as five or six years old to play. The basics of the game are easy to learn. If you can run and kick a ball, you can play. And one of the best things about soccer is that every player gets to touch the ball.

Because soccer is a sport that relies more on speed and agility than strength and size, soccer is one of the few sports that allows boys and girls to play together. Kids of similar ages, both male and female, are able to compete equally. Actually, since young girls mature faster than boys, girls are often the better players.

When Mia's older sisters and brother found out there was a league in town, they wanted to play. Bill was delighted and did his best to support his children. Although he was still learning the game himself, he started studying the rules and fundamentals of the game. He became a coach and referee so he could learn even more and make sure his children learned how to play correctly. He studied every book about soccer he could find.

At first, Mia wasn't allowed to play on a team. She was still too young. Yet the family spent most of just about every Saturday at the soccer field. Mia loved watching her siblings and the other kids play. Every time an errant kick came her way, she was off and running after it. Her mother often spent most of her Saturdays chasing after Mia!

Mia's mother recognized that her daughter was full of energy and thought she might enjoy taking ballet lessons, just as she herself had when she was a young girl. So when Mia turned five, her mother enrolled her in a dancing class. "She was so petite, I thought she'd be ideal," her mother later said.

That's not quite the way it turned out. As far as Mia was concerned, dance class was too slow. It seemed that as soon as everyone in class started moving, the teacher would have everyone stop to learn something else. Besides, Mia didn't like wearing ballet slippers. As she told a reporter years later, "I hated it. I lasted only one class."

Mia wanted to play soccer, as her brother and sisters did. Her mother understood. She remembered that when she was growing up, there were few opportunities for girls to play sports. As she later recalled, "Those of us who wanted to be active found the joy in using our body in something like dance. Now they have this other option and it's beautiful." She put Mia's ballet shoes in a closet and bought her a tiny pair of soccer cleats and shin guards.

At age five, Mia joined an organized team. She was one of the smallest and youngest players on the team.

But that didn't stop Mia. She had grown up with the game and played a lot with her older sisters and brother. She understood how the game was supposed to be played. Although she was timid at first, she quickly discovered that as soon as she started scoring goals, she didn't feel so shy anymore. As she remembered later, "Soccer was a way to hang out and make friends."

In time, it would become much more than that.