USWNT legend Mia Hamm on the growth of women's soccer, inspiring generations and how Hamilton redefined her thoughts on legacy
Image Credit: USA Today
21 March 2024
Ryan Tomlich sat down with the legendary American star to talk about her career and what it's meant to those that followed
There's a scene in the second act of Hamilton where George Washington decides to give it all up, to step away. Power is there for the taking, or the retaking in this case, but Washington decides to pass it on. He reveals that his legacy will be defined not by what he did when he was in charge, but by how he empowered those who came after him.
"If I say goodbye, the nation learns to move on," Washington says in the song 'One Last Time'. "It outlives me when I’m gone."
Mia Hamm remembers when she first saw that scene. A theater buff, Hamm has seen plenty of plays and projects over the years, but she points to that one specific scene as the one that really hit home. Two decades since she retired, there's still so much talk about her legacy, but, if she can boil all of her thoughts on it down to one moment, it's one featuring a fictional conversation between two founding fathers.
"In Hamilton," she begins, "there's the whole part where George Washington steps aside. He's like, 'democracy has to be able to live without me for it to be true'. That's the way I feel about the game."
Hamm is no American president, but she is an American hero. She's the player that's credited with taking women's soccer to a new stratosphere, introducing an entire generation of boys and girls to the game she loves most. Hamm and the 99ers began a revolution, too, one that has outlasted all of them and continues on to this very day.
It's now been 20 years since Hamm's active part in that revolution ended. It's been two decades since she last kicked a ball with the U.S. women's national team. When her playing career came to a close, Hamm took her step back and handed the baton off to future generations, who have continued to run faster and further than even she could have imagined.
And that's why that Hamilton scene really stuck with her. She built something, led something, revolutionized something, but that specific moment in that play really put the 'why' into perspective. When Hamm thinks about her own legacy, she doesn't necessarily sit and think about the on-field accolades, the World Cups, the goals, the advertisements, the moments. Instead, she thinks about all that has grown because of those things, of everything that this sport was able to do without her since she stepped off the field for that last time.
"I was never the game," Hamm says. "Michelle Akers was never the game. We were a part of it and we wanted to make it so much better while we were there, not for each other, but for future generations. The game is always bigger than any one player and it always will be. You just try to enhance the experience and the love for the people that play and the people that get to watch and, hopefully, inspire the next generation to be better and have more opportunities."
We sat down with Hamm to discuss her legacy, the growth of the game and how she goes about watching the USWNT...
Image Credit: Getty
Growing the sport
For generations of fans, Hamm is women's soccer. For many, she's soccer in general. An entire generation of supporters was raised on tales of Hamm's greatness, of her place among the greatest, male or female, to ever play the game.
The legendary USWNT star needs no introduction, but we'll give her a brief one anyway. Four national titles, two World Cups and two Olympic Gold medals headline her trophy cabinet. The legendary Pele named her to the FIFA 100, one of just two women's players to make his list. Nike even named a building after her, showing just how influential she was not just in soccer, but in sports in general.
Hamm, though, is quick to stress that she never did it alone. It was a Herculean task, lifting women's soccer, and Hamm surely did heavy lifting, but she was never the one with all of the weight on her shoulders. Her generation of players knew what they were up against: the lack of funding, the sexism, the status quo that prevented women's sports from getting their due. But they fought anyway, hoping that someday their fight would make things just a little bit easier for those who came after.
"We felt a responsibility to grow not just our game, but for all the young girls to listen to our stories about how we felt empowered stepping onto the field, and how it gave us a voice and a greater sense of confidence," Hamm says. "For a lot of us, the game put us through school where maybe we would not have had that opportunity if it wasn't for our sport. I think it was a very conscious decision to think about others in growing the game and growing women's sports."
Image Credit: Getty
The modern game
When looking at the sport that Hamm played compared to the sport that's played now, it's night and day. Hamm and her teammates saw the rise and fall of several professional leagues. They dealt with a lack of funding, harsh travel conditions and playing on high school fields. Just this past weekend, Kansas City opened up a brand-new soccer-specific stadium designed specifically for the Current. For Hamm and her generation, it would have been unfathomable.
You'd think that Hamm would look at the current state of the women's game and wonder 'what if?' What if she and her teammates played on proper fields? What if the international game was as deep as it is now, with competition from all over the world? What if the players in the 90s had the funding and the resources that they always dreamed of? If prime Mia Hamm was dropped into the NWSL or the USWNT in 2024, how much damage would she can do?
That's not necessarily how she sees it, though. There's no jealousy or envy from her end; only pride.
"I never played thinking about like, 'What's in it for me?'," she said. "I played because I loved it. I loved what it asked of me every single day: to be accountable, not just to myself but to others. That's where we want our sport to be. We want it to be so much better than when we were there. That's part of growth. That's part of evolution.
"Would have it have been much more enjoyable to fly to Europe or to China in business class as opposed to in the very back of the plane, middle seats, in the smoking section? Absolutely! But if us doing that makes it better for the next generation, sure. That was part of our journey. I love that the sport has evolved where the resources and the facilities are so much better for so many more female players. But there's still a lot of work that we need to do in terms of creating that equal playing field."
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From player to fan (and excecutive)
Hamm, of course, has never strayed too far away from the game. In the years since her playing career ended, she's always been involved and always been active. Hamm is a global ambassador for Barcelona and remains on the board of directors of Roma. Stateside, she's the co-owner of two clubs: Los Angeles FC and Angel City FC. Both LA-based clubs are loaded with superstar owners, but Hamm may just be the most recognizable of the bunch.
Through those clubs, Hamm is never too far from a soccer game and, in some ways, her mind still works in the same way it used to back in the day. She still views the game in a similar way, even if her place is now in a luxury box, not leading the line.
"I went to Angel City [for their opening game], and I'm sitting there obviously as part of the ownership team," she begins, "but I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, I want to help them out!' The game moves so fast, but, when you're sitting up there, it seems so much slower. These players are making decisions and I'm just like 'Oh, did she see this? Did she recognize what the defense was doing?' I would love just to tell them, like scream something sometimes!
"When I'm watching the current USWNT play, there's a lot of nerves because I just want them, so badly, to do well. You know what they put into it. You know what they've invested for, not just that tournament, but for the years leading up to it. It's all this sisterhood. Representing the U.S., there's so much pride. When I'm watching them, I'm a bit nervous. I just want them to be successful."
Image Credit: Getty
Assessing the USWNT
Hamm, obviously, still keeps tabs on the international game as well. She's seen the rise, particularly in Europe. And, after watching the U.S. falter at the 2023 World Cup, she was left wondering the same thing as just about everyone else: what does the USWNT need to do to get back to where they belong?
"I want us to figure out what we need to do as a team and as a federation and as a country to now take the steps needed to get to where Spain is," Hamm says. "They're the benchmark with regards to how they play technically and tactically, how they've had just a seamless transition with their youth players coming into the national team, what they are doing at the development level, at the youth level, at their youth national-team levels in terms of their connection and seamless transition with the national team. If you look at Spain or France or even England now and their style of play, and you don't go 'Yeah, that's really the style I want', you're crazy! It's attractive, attacking, organized, passionate, entertaining soccer to watch."
Hamm, though, sees building blocks in this new-look USWNT. It's a young group, for sure, one that is expected to take things to new heights under new coach Emma Hayes. The rest of the world has caught up, though; the road to glory for this current USWNT is tougher than ever.
The one thing I feel that the U.S. has always had is their mentality," she says. "I think you saw it in the last couple of games that the U.S. competed in [at the Gold Cup]. When you have a team that's committed to winning, you always have a chance. I know that people at U.S. Soccer want to keep developing our game, but that's also where we want our sport: to be where more and more national teams have a greater influx of talent. We want it to be that we're talking about how every game is difficult and brings challenges because the level of play has just improved so much."
Hamm and her legendary teammates remain a resource to the current USWNT. Hamm understands that the generations after her very much grew up idolizing her, even if they are now the ones steering the ship. And, when they come calling, she's always willing to answer and help in whatever way she can.
"I think it's important to stay connected. I know, for me and some of the older players, the players that played after us used us as resources, whether it be on the field or off the field. I think you're seeing that with the current group.
"There are times when you experience doubt or uncertainty, dealing with injury or disappointment. All those things, no matter which decade you competed in, are all part of that process. And I think we've done a good job at staying connected through the years and making sure players feel that the line of communication is always open for advice or support or insight."
Remaining a star
All these years later, Hamm remains part of the public consciousness. For many, she's the first athlete they think of when it comes to women's sports. Others may say the same thing about soccer. Regardless, Hamm is still one of the most recognizable faces in sports, despite retiring 20 years ago.
Due to that status, Hamm was recently brought in as part of Miller Lite's latest ad campaign, which sees her alongside ex-NFL star JJ Watt, NBA great Reggie Miller and legendary MLB star David 'Big Papi' Ortiz.
The campaign, titled 'Great Taste, Less Filling', is a throwback to a 1975 debate put out there by the company. To revive that debate, Miller brought in Hamm, who felt somewhat honored to be included among a group of legendary athletes from all different sports.
"To be able to be a part of the team, I'm Team Tastes Great, of course, but just being with all these legends and all these all-stars and being able to bring back this iconic and vintage spot it was a lot of fun," Hamm says. "On set, it was fun. I know when I was in the 70s, I wasn't wearing this outfit! I was much younger, but just kind of being in this vintage retro get-up was cool.
"Then to see the way the ad has come together, because I was only on-set with JJ, we saw each other a couple of times, mostly in the makeup trailer, but they were showing me the stills of Papi and Reggie Miller and I just thought it was so good."
Hamm already had a built-in connection with Watt. The ex-footballs star's wife, Kealia, was an NWSL star who previously played at Hamm's alma mater, the University of North Carolina. The Watts are now part of the ownership at Premier League club Burnley, which has brought the ex-NFL star even closer to the sport.
"We chatted a little bit," she said. "We chatted about how they have a young son. Then I got to watch him do some of his lines on set and he was so good."
Lasting impact
There's a video that went around a few months ago. It was a video of Caitlin Clark, arguably the top face in American sports as a whole at the moment. The Iowa basketball star received a gift, a signed jersey from Hamm, and you could immediately see the emotion hit her as she realized what it was.
Clark, like many women's athletes, idolizes Hamm. That's not abnormal. There are millions of young girls all over the world who grew up wanting to be Hamm. Clark is one of them, and perhaps the next to have her sort of impact on her sport.
What's abnormal, though, is the fact that Clark isn't even old enough to have seen Hamm play. The basketball star was born in 2002, two years before Hamm retired. Clark's idolization of Hamm is solely based on impact and legacy, not necessarily on seeing the once-great soccer star at the peak of her powers.
That's all the validation Hamm needs to know that she and her teammates did what they set out to do.
"For us on the team in 99 and our leadership, a lot of stances and opportunities were intentional," she says. "I will say that because there are women and men before us who made choices and decisions and fought for certain rights without even knowing that I was around or that I would have an opportunity to play. I think our group always felt a responsibility, in that regard, to create more opportunities and dreams and places where young girls can express themselves and find themselves.
"Players like Caitlin Clark are doing that for the next generation and so are the current national-team members. I'm very proud of what we were able to do, so if the question is, 'Was that part of your thinking?', the answer is 'Absolutely'."
And that brings us all the way back to Hamilton. Hamm speaks to the Washington scene as the one that meant most to her, but there's another fitting line later in the show. In that scene, the title character utters one of the show's most poignant lines: "What is a legacy? It's planting seeds in a garden you never get to see."
Hamm is fortunate enough to be able to watch those seeds grow. They're growing and sprouting and stretching to the sun in ways she dreamed of for years. The question is now how bright that garden will look in the years to come as more seeds are added to it by those following the path that Hamm and her teammates laid down for all who came after them.
