road to Atlanta, The

Southern Living, Apr 1996 by Roberts, Carolanne Griffith

Let's turn the clock back on Mia Hamm. The scene: Florence, Italy, 1973. Kids on an American military base kick their way through a game of soccer. Tiny Mariel Margaret "Mia," the 1-year-old daughter of a U.S. Air Force pilot, repeatedly toddles past the big boys to steal the ball.

Today at 24, this U.S. Women's National Team top forward continues to steal the ball--and the goals and honors--in the field of women's soccer.

Yet when you meet her off the field, the aggressiveness evaporates, and Mia's movements are slow and liquid. You expect a rough-edged young woman who set the all-time NCAA record for goals and assists; instead you see a graceful colt with long legs and an errant ponytail spilling onto a soft face. In this moment, she's more the picture of her ballerina mother than her sporty father, more fashion model than model athlete.

But make no mistake. The Olympic Games-with women's soccer making a debut--are around the corner and Mia Hamm is ready. "Anyone can win on a given day," she says, referring to the powerful women of Norway and China--and of the U.S. Team, which has trained in Orlando since January. "I think there's definite parity."

But equal footing is far too close for Mia-the-winner. "I didn't like to lose as a child," she states firmly. "And now? It doesn't feel good at all. Losing the World Championship

to Norway last year

wasn't something we enjoyed. The biggest way to show that it's done something for you is to come back and prove that you're okay."

The team is definitely okay with Mia at its core. Just keep in mind her credentials. At 15 she earned a slot on the 1987 U.S. National Team, becoming its youngest member. Her first U.S. goal followed in 1990.

From that point the career moved as fast as a flying Mia on the field--a scholarship to the blockbuster soccer program at University of North Carolina (UNC), where she earned a record-breaking 103 goals, 72 assists, and 4 NCAA championships, in addition to the titles All-American three times; ACC Player of the Year, and National Player of the Year twice; and the U.S. Soccer Federation's Female Athlete of the Year twice.

And how does she see herself? "Well, you can't really be crushing at 5'5"," she reasons. "But I'm very intense when I play. I don't smile a lot--actually I don't smile a lot when I'm not playing. I'm very focused and into what I need o do to make this team win. I take it very seriously."

Mia stops, looking as serious as the mission she describes. Then she breaks into an afterthought grin. "It's all fun, you know," says the eight-year veteran of the U.S. National Team. "That isn't what's at the forefront of your mind--you don't stop and say, 'Am I having fun?' But this is what you enjoy. If you go on that premise, you should be having fun."

If that's the case, her life's been a ball--soccer and otherwise. As the fourth of six children, the journey has included residences in California; Texas, where the family watched every move of World Cup Soccer on Mexican television; and Virginia, where she completed her junior and senior high school years simultaneously and made the honor roll. By college her parents had returned to Italy--where they plan to retire.

With all the moving abut, it's no wonder that Chapel Hill turned out to be a homey haven for the much-loved athlete. "It was a place where everything in my life was perfect," she remembers of the university that retired her #19 jersey in 1994. "I couldn't have asked for a better school, coach, or teammates--it was everything for me."

Those days chiseled another chapter into the life story. Sitting in her last political science class before graduation, Mia Hamm met Christiaan Corry. "I don't know if he knew who I was," she says today. "I'd seen him a lot on campus and just recognized his face. We started talking and ..." The two were married in 1994 at the UNC Chapel.

With the soccer career and marriage, it's bard to track her plans. Christiaan, a U.S. Marine in flight training at Pensacola, Florida, may be sent any direction anytime now. Mia, who shares an Orlando condo with a teammate, is determined to play in Atlanta. She refers to the period that follows the Olympic Games as "out there" and simply doesn't address the possibilities.

"I'm not going to deny soccer has done a lot for me," she admits. "I also know I can't do it forever--and that's okay ... but I want to play as long as I can. I could play overseas. It all depends on how we do in the Olympics."

Again, the Olympics. Mia's road to Atlanta has many lanes, all of them fast paced. There's travel for competitions throughout the country. And ceremonies for team sponsor Nike--like the one where she met her hero, Jackie Joyner-Kersee (" awesome--everything I thought she would be and more"). And, lying ahead, loom the Games.

"We won't live in the Olympic Village unless we make the semifinals," Mia says, outlining the early games in Orlando and Miami. "So we want to be in the Village. And we hope to go for the Opening Ceremonies. You want to be there, especially in your home country."