Hamm discusses future (Photo by Clark Castle, The Daily Campus)

International soccer superstar Mia Hamm spoke yesterday at the SMU Athletic Forum. Hamm, who recently retired from competitive play, plans to spend more time on her philanthropy organization, the Mia Hamm Foundation. Despite this new focus, she said she would “miss the game.”

The game of women’s soccer will undoubtedly, miss her too. Hamm’s career includes two Olympic gold medals for women’s soccer (1996 and 2004) and an Olympic silver medal (2000). Additionally, Hamm became the leading scorer in international competition, male or female, in 1999, an honor she still holds.

Competing with boys as a child is something Hamm believes honed her soccer skills.

“I had to be twice as good,” she said. “It challenged me, it pushed me, it made me more creative.”

Although Hamm believes strides have been made to give girls with athletic aspirations, such as her, a level playing field, she acknowledges there is still work to be done.

“There’s still a lot to do,” she said. “There are still girls who don’t have the opportunity to do what they should be doing.”

One of Hamm’s “proudest legacies” was being part of the group trying to advance women’s competition.

According to Hamm, she got joy in “knowing that these young girls we saw in the crowd envisioned being on the field.”

One of the things Hamm is fondest of is her time spent on the U.S. World Team.

“I really loved being part of the [U.S. team],” she said. The one aspect she will miss is not competing on the international stage with the team, but working with her teammates.

“I miss my teammates,” she said. “I’m not going to see them on [a] consistent basis.

“My teammates are my friends, whether they like it or not, until the day I die.”

Asked about a more private matter, her husband, Chicago Cubs player Nomar Garciaparra, all Hamm would say is that she is “very, very blessed.”

“It’s really hard to describe,” she said. “He’s one of the most decent, caring human beings I’ve ever met.”

Now that Hamm has left the soccer field behind, she intends to dedicate more of her time to the Mia Hamm Foundation.

“One of the nice things about retirement is that I get to focus more on [my] foundation,” she said.

According to the foundation’s Web site, the two main focuses of the foundation are to “support for bone marrow transplant patients and families” and the advancement of “young women in sports.”

“We really focus on the financial needs of the families,” Hamm said of the foundation.

According to the Web site, Hamm started the foundation after her brother Garrett passed away from “complications related to aplastic anemia.”