On July 10, 1999, Christian Brahe-Pedersen was among the more than 90,000 fans who attended the women's World Cup final at the Rose Bowl in California. That day, the U.S. won the title, defeating China in penalty kicks and capturing the sporting public's attention.
It was a memorable moment for Brahe-Pedersen, who played soccer in high school and loved the sport. Six years later, when his youngest daughter was born, he named her Mia, after soccer star Mia Hamm, one of the members of the 1999 World Cup team.
Christian began coaching Mia when she was four, and she showed a lot of promise. But in the seventh grade, Mia decided to give up soccer after the state championship game and focus full-time on track. She was a promising sprinter at the time, and she remembers her father coming home after refereeing games and mentioning t...
