"I hope all you young girls see yourself up there... we were just like you"

In this quote, Mia Hamm is revealing a desire for young girls to be able to see themselves as successful and capable, represented by herself and female athletes like her. She wants them to understand that they too can achieve greatness and that they are not limited by their gender or social expectations. By stating "we were similar to you," she is also stressing that she and other effective female athletes were once girls with their own dreams and goals.