Expect this summer’s Courier-Journal Sports Awards Ceremony presented by Norton Sports Health to be golden with international soccer star Mia Hamm as the guest speaker.
U.S. Women’s National Team member Mia Hamm plays during the Olympic gold medal match on Aug. 26, 2004, in Athens, Greece. The international soccer star will be the guest speaker at this summer’s Courier-Journal Sports Awards.
A two-time Olympic gold medalist and Women’s World Cup winner, Hamm set the standard for excellence in her sport while becoming one of the world’s most well-known international athletes and continues to be an advocate for Title IX and gender equality in athletics.
“We are so excited Mia will be joining us for the Sports Awards,” said Wes Jackson, Courier-Journal and USA TODAY Regional President. ”She is a dynamic athlete, trailblazer and role model. Together with Mia, we look forward to an amazing evening for the student-athletes and guests.”
The awards ceremony will be held June 12 at the Louisville Palace in downtown Louisville. Each Courier-Journal All-Area Team selection and each winner of a Metro Louisville and Southern Indiana Athlete of the Week Award is invited to attend, along with a guest, for free. To view the full list of invited athletes, RSVP and purchase additional tickets, visit sportsawards.courier-journal.com.
The Courier-Journal Sports Awards program honors the best in Kentuckiana high school athletics. The Courier-Journal’s All-Area Teams recognize the top performers in each fall, winter and spring sport, and fans vote for the Athlete of the Week Awards to recognize stellar performances throughout Metro Louisville and Southern Indiana.
Few athletes are as qualified as Hamm to talk about the dedication and success these student-athletes exhibit. She helped North Carolina to NCAA titles in 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1993 (she redshirted the 1991 season to prepare for that year’s Women’s World Cup), and her 103 career goals, 72 assists and 278 points were Atlantic Coast Conference records.
In 1987 at age 15, she became the youngest member of the U.S. Women’s National Team and set world records with 158 goals and 144 assists during a run that included two Olympic gold medals (1996, 2004) and a silver (2000), two World Cup championships (1991, 1999) and five consecutive U.S. Soccer Player of the Year awards from 1994-98.
Since retiring from professional soccer in 2004, Hamm has stayed very busy serving as a World Cup commentator, promoting the Mia Hamm Foundation in support of bone marrow transplant recipients, becoming part owner of the MLS expansion Los Angeles Football Club and raising three children with her husband, former MLB all-star Nomar Garciaparra.
“She’s the most recognizable and most famous and one of the most successful women’s players to ever be in (soccer),” U.S. Women’s National Team member Megan Rapinoe said of Hamm during a recent visit to Louisville. “And I think, obviously, take that outside of her career and I think you can say the same thing. I think she’s been huge. She’s a part owner of LAFC now, which will hopefully launch its women’s team in the next couple of years, so she’s been hugely influential and really used her excellence on the field, or celebrity or whatever you say, to really keep progressing the game forward and made that a mission of hers.”
Event sponsorship opportunities are available by contacting Courier-Journal Vice President of Sales Chad Smith at csmith5@gannett.com or 502-582-4093.
WHO IS INVITED?
Athlete of the Week Award winners listed here
All CJ All-Area Team selections listed below:
Cheer Team of the Year: Bullitt East
HOW DO I GET TICKETS OR RSPV?