Mia Hamm and Coach Dorrance - The Vision of a Champion

Mia Hamm is one of the best soccer players to ever play, and she played for one of the best coaches and in one of the best college programs in the history of the sport when she played for coach Anson Dorrance at the University of North Carolina. When she was at North Carolina, they won four consecutive National Championships, and her team only lost one game of the 95 that she played on the team.

You don't become the best without hard work. Coach Dorrance says, "The final measure of athletic greatness is not what you do in the training sessions with your peers and teammates - it's what you do on your own."

In the video below, Coach Dorrance shares his favorite story about Mia. He was driving to campus one day during Mia's senior year early on a cold, late winter morning. He said he stopped and saw Mia going through their grueling fitness exercise alone in a cold park. She was running through a cone drill where she had to sprint 5 yards and back, 10 yards, 15, 20, and 25 yards and back. In between sprints, he said that he could see her bent over with sweat flying off of her.

He was so impressed that when he got to work, he wrote this note for her:

10 years later, Mia wrote a book and put the words from the note in the book. Coach Dorrance said that this was the most heartfelt gift that he has received from any of his players.

If you want to be the best, you have to be willing to do the toughest, hardest drills that your coach gives your team, by yourself, in cold weather. If you don't, there is a Mia Hamm out there who will.

Also, find ways to thank your coaches and show them that you appreciate them. It matters.

One of the things that I try to stress to my athletes and my own kids is the importance of doing work outside of practice. Everybody goes to practice, so it's harder to separate yourself in practice.

If you really want to be the best that you can be and maximize your athletic ability, you have to put time and work in on your own. On your own time is when you can fine-tune your individual game so that you are ready to execute in practice and in games. On your own is when you do extra conditioning so that you are in the best shape that you can be in practices and games. On your own is when you stretch so that your body is prepared to perform, and on your own is when you watch film - of yourself and others - so that your mind is ready to perform.

If you want to be great, tell me what you did on your own last week, and tell me what's you are going to do on your own this week.