Hamm - Go for the goal: a champions guide to winning in soccer and life

To my nephew Dillon. Through all of the sorrow, we found joy.

I love you, buddy!

The vision of a champion is someone who is
bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of
exhaustion when no one else is watching.

A NSON D ORRANCE ,
head womens soccer coach,
University of North Carolina

Contents

L ike everything else in my life where I have achieved a measure of success, this book is the product of a team effort from start to finish. My name may be on the cover but I would like to credit the following people with assists: To my husband Christiaan for his unconditional support on and off the field; to my family and friends who will always be my first team, I love you all; to my coaches (Anson, April, Colleen, Dino, Jay, Tony, and Lauren) and teammates for helping me not only become a better player but also a better person; to my agent David Bober for his never-ending good advice and friendship, you are the man!; to Aaron Heifetz, for his patience, enthusiasm and hard work on this project; to my editors at HarperCollins, David Hirshey and Jay Papasan, for believing in womens soccer and making this book be the best it could be.

I am grateful to the Southern California Blues Soccer Club who traveled three hours and stood around for another three to help with the photo shoot, and to Paul Murphy and Dean Stoyer at Nike for generously supplying equipment.

Finally, I owe a huge debt to the fans of the U.S. Womens Soccer teamthe parents, the coaches, the players, and of course, the girls who scream for us at every game. We play for you.

S occer has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It has helped me grow as an athlete and as a person. Ive made lifelong friends, learned to embrace competition, and gained self-confidence, all the while having a ball. I feel like Im the luckiest woman in the world.

Playing for the U.S. Womens national team, winning the World Cup in 91 and earning an Olympic gold medal in 96 are great achievements in and of themselves but truly it was always my love of the game, not the trophies or accolades, that kept me going for the goal. If there is one thing that I would want readers to take away from this book, its that the fun the pure joy of kicking a ball on a soccer field, the time spent bonding with teammates and the feeling of being as fit and strong as you can beis more important than any result. As you learn more about my life in these pages, I hope you will be as inspired by my passion for the sport as by my accomplishments on the field.

M y name is Mariel Margaret Hamm, but everyone calls me Mia. Many people say Im the best womens soccer player in the world. I dont think so. And because of that, someday I just might be.

All my life Ive been playing up, meaning Ive challenged myself by competing with players older, bigger, more skillful, more experiencedin short, better than me. When I was six, my big brother, Garrett, ran circles around me. At ten, I joined an eleven-year-old-boys team and, eventually, led them in scoring. Seven years later I found myself playing for the number-one college team in America after becoming the youngest player ever to suit up for the U.S. Womens National Team.

Was I that good? No, but early on coaches detected a competitive fire in me and fed it by continually pitting me against superior opponents. Back then I wasnt sure I fit in; after all, I was shy and a bit intimidated by players I had idolized. But each day I attempted to play up to their level and earn their respect, and I was improving faster than I had ever dreamed possible.

Now, with the National Team, Im training and playing with some of the best players in the world every day. When I see their amazing skills and talents, I have no doubt that I still have a lot of work to do. Until I can head the ball with the authority of Tisha Venturini, pass with the touch and imagination of Kristine Lilly, shoot with the thunder of Michelle Akers, and command a team with the grit of Carla Overbeck and the wit of Julie Foudy, Ill keep striving to become the complete player. My teammates are the driving forces that push me to improve.

It is the responsibility of your teammates to nurture you through competition. Their intensity and determination set the tone of your training environment, the crucible in which you as a soccer player are formed. Do these players create an atmosphere that will help me improve? Do I push them every day? Do the coaches push us? Everyone plays a unique role in building a team that reaches for excellence.

On the National Teamand we dare to be great, whether its a one-on-one drill, an intrasquad scrimmage, or a grudge match against Norwayeveryone wants to win. We live for situations that challenge us, because to the woman, we want to drive ourselves to the limit and beyond.

On the first day of a training camp, we have a one-on-one tournament where we put our cards on the table. Its forwards going against forwards, midfielders clashing with midfielders, and defenders trying to prove who is the toughest of them all. We play three 2-minute games, but in that 6 minutes we play the most intense soccer youll see in a training session anywhere.

Players are battling for loose balls, sliding to block shots, and doing anything within the rules and a few things that are questionable (Ive got torn jerseys to prove it) to gain the upper hand. We do this because we all know we have to push one another all the time to win. If one person slacks off and doesnt give the maximum, she has shortchanged not just herself but also the person she is squared up against and the whole team.

Soccer is not an individual sport. I dont score all the goals, and the ones I do score are usually the product of a team effort. I dont keep the ball out of the back of the net on the other end of the field. I dont plan our game tactics. I dont wash our training gear (okay, sometimes I do), and I dont make our airline reservations. I am a member of a 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.

Once you experience successand you will if you put in the workyou shouldnt be afraid to celebrate it. Unless you feel good about what you do every day, you wont do it with much conviction or passion. So celebrate what youve accomplished, but also raise the bar a little higher each time you succeed. I think thats what we do so well on the National Team. Weve been successful, and we do enjoy being the best. But after the 1996 Olympics, once we got back together, all we talked about was reclaiming the World Cup. We never lost our focus on our next goal as we all used our success in 96 as motivation to win in 99.

Never let yourself get too comfortable or confident, because thats when a weaker opponent can sneak up and knock you off your perch. Take your victories, whatever they may be, cherish them, use them, but dont settle for them. There are always new, grander challenges to confront, and a true winner will embrace each one.

I firmly believe that success breeds success. Once you have achieved something, your confidence begins to build. You realize youre capable of doing it again. But each time you must work harder, because the old saying is true, it is more difficult to stay on top than to get there.

The U.S. Womens National Team got to stand on that gold medal podium not only because we beat China in the championship game but because of everything we did as a team in the years leading up to that moment. There were tremendous sacrifices made since the veteran core of National Team players first pulled on the U.S. jersey. We put families on hold, lost jobs because of the travel, and spent time away from friends. But as April Heinrichs, our captain at the 1991 Womens World Cup, used to say, it is not sacrifice if you love what youre doing.