As a guy, I humbly concede that I am rather ignorant about sportswomen and its pioneers (but I’m learning!). Mia Hamm however, I know.

Hailing from Selma, Alabama, U.S.A, Mia Hamm is the most recognizable female football player in the history of American football a.k.a soccer. She’s done so much for the game back in the States in terms of raising the standards and heightening its visibility among America’s other more “traditional” sports.

More importantly, through Mia Hamm’s achievements in the sport, she has inspired a whole generation of young American women to dream big. In a time where women’s sports received very little attention, Mia thrived even at a young age, earning a spot in the US women’s national squad when she was only 15.

In college, she helped her team (University of North Carolina’s Tar Heels) to 4 NCAA championships (college sports is massive in the States) and won the women’s FIFA World Cup with her national team in 1991. She was 19.

She collected countless personal awards along the way and left nothing short of a legacy in the world of football. Her story though, is not without heartbreak. In 1997, she lost her adoptive brother, Garrett, to a rare blood disease called aplastic anemia. Following her tragic loss, she went on to set up the Mia Hamm Foundation, dedicated to aid in bone marrow research as well as to help the progress of women sports.

Her strength and will to persevere after the loss of a loved one spurned her further as an icon and an inspiration not only to women but to humanity.

I doubt that Mia Hamm is as well-known here compared to the States. Do you know anyone sportswomen closer to home that we should know about?