Mia Corbin heads into 2nd season with Ascent, fueled by tea and lessons learned
Mia Corbin always needs a “hit of something” to start the day.
She doesn’t like a ton of caffeine, so coffee is out of the question. Energy drinks are, too. So, she’s settled for an alternative, one that she picked up by going to the Queen Mary Tea Room & Restaurant in Seattle with her grandma. Tea. Or as she likes to call it, “a cuppa,” a nickname she often says in a fake British accent.
The Carolina Ascent striker will make her fix in the team’s facility. She’ll grab a cup, fill the kettle and put the tea bag in. It’s routine. It’s peaceful. Until one day she was interrupted by an annoyed Philip Poole, the head coach of the Ascent.
“He was like, ‘Well, you’re not gonna make me one?’” Corbin said. “And I’m like, ‘Well, that’s not the case. I just wanted tea.’”
Now, her morning brew has a plus-one. The pair will often switch who makes the cups each morning. There’s no sugar or honey. Corbin makes sure Poole drinks 2% reduced-fat milk so he can watch his figure. Really, it’s because Corbin refuses to drink whole milk. They’ll chat about anything and everything from when the tea is made until it’s finished.
“That’s my favorite Mia pieces,” Poole said. “I can guarantee good day, bad day, win, loss, we’ll sit down on Monday, we’ll have a cup a tea and we’ll talk about it.”
Poole says it tastes better after an Ascent win. And last season, the pair drank a whole lot of that tasty tea with the help of Corbin. The striker finished second in league-wide voting for the USL Super League Player of the Year during its inaugural season. She was also named Ascent Player of the Year. Corbin’s 12 goals ranked third in the league, along with her 51 total shots.
Her performance helped push the Ascent to a USL Super League regular season title and a semifinal appearance in the league playoffs.
The team wants that same success and more when year two starts on Saturday against Fort Lauderdale United, the same squad that ended the Ascent’s championship appearance hopes in June.
Finding her way in life and soccer
There was a time when Corbin didn’t know if she would continue playing soccer at a high level after graduating from Cal-Berkeley in 2020.
COVID-19 restrictions shut the world down, and Corbin’s dreams of playing abroad were put on hold. Instead of leaving the country, she found herself back in Seattle.
Still, she needed to keep playing soccer. The passion was there, but not the opportunity. Eventually, she found a community of African-American men to play with. Corbin was one of the few girls who played, and it was a 40-minute drive to get there.
It didn’t matter.
It reinforced everything she knew about the sport.
“I like the simplicity of the game,” Corbin said. “I think sometimes we overanalyze it, and sometimes it’s literally just a one and two, give and go pass up the field. Go backwards. You don’t have to force it.”
Her time in Seattle rooted her in that simplicity. She fell more in love with soccer before resuming her original plan.
Following a stint with the Seattle Reign as a non-roster signee in May 2021, Corbin signed with Costa Rican Women’s Premier Division team Alajuelense. Then, she landed in Italy and played with Parma before a final stop in Australia with the Brisbane Roar ahead of arriving in Charlotte.
She learned lessons that have molded her into the player she is. Corbin often thinks about a popular saying in Costa Rica: “Entitled to nothing, but grateful for everything.” It reminds her to be thankful for what she does every day.
In Italy, she had to become comfortable with players — and fans — getting in her face. Whether good or bad, feedback is immediate.
“They’re very direct,” Corbin said. “If you do something wrong, you know you do it wrong. But I think I was more thankful. I think I really go to see how much I like direct information.”
Corbin had a unique type of training in Australia. She played on Olympic grounds. It gave her a new idea about performance.
And, she also started drinking tea more often — way more often. Corbin thinks she had up to eight cups a day.
Now, she’s bringing every lesson she learned to Charlotte. Tea and all.
“(I wanted) to appreciate different forms of soccer and how they view the world and just get a different perspective,” Corbin said. “I feel like that’s so unique.”
‘A leadership chameleon’
Corbin’s leadership has allowed her to be more vocal, more versatile. Poole said teammates respond to her. He described her as a force in the locker room.
“She’s a bit of a leadership chameleon,” Poole said. “She’s not kind of a type banging (her) hand on the table. She can put an arm around someone. She can give someone a kick in the pants to all players, young players, everyone in between.”
With 11 departures and nine new players, Corbin is a veteran presence on the team. She helps maintain the standard the Ascent have set.
Heading into her second season, Corbin’s personal goals are simple. She wants to win. Her success this year will be defined by that.
But in the middle of it all, she still has those minutes with Poole every morning.
Last week, the pair made a bet. Poole is a Newcastle fan. Corbin is a Liverpool fan. The two clubs played Monday. The loser determined who made tea the following day.
Liverpool won, 3-2. Corbin wore her jersey to practice. Poole sulked.
“I’m very appreciative,” Corbin said. “I’m grateful for our relationship. I feel like we’ve worked at it. I felt like wasn’t something I had in the beginning. I think we’re both still trying to understand each other. We’re still learning from each other, working off each other and just trying to make each other better.”
