Jordin Kadiri

Next year, Jordin Kadiri will be taking her talents to DePaul University. The versatile Kadiri plays center and outside back, but really can play “everything but goalie.”

A member of both FC United and the Kits, Kadiri went to middle school in Rogers Park before transferring over to Evanston for high school. Soccer provided a community in a new town.

“I didn’t really have any friends from Evanston,” she says. “Then I went to play soccer.”

Before joining FC United, Kadiri was a part of the inaugural girl’s team at Jahbat FC, now a staple travel program in Evanston and beyond. The girl’s program launched in 2013, and among the first players was Jordin Kadiri, encouraged to try out by a family friend.

“[I] didn’t make it but they put me on the team anyway,” says Kadiri. “We were so bad the first few years, and then all of our friends joined, and then we exploded. It was amazing.”

Sophomore year, she was pulled from junior varsity to play with the team for playoffs. Prospects were looking up until a fateful ACL injury at a recruitment camp in the winter of 2022. Despite being present for every game and practice last season, this is the first full year Kadiri will see on the varsity soccer team.

“The [ETHS] community is a lot different than club,” she says. “Club is a bunch of girls from different schools playing together. It’s still fun, but it’s like when you play a club versus your country. One of our coaches said you never really get an experience like high school soccer.”

Despite the loss of many teammates—and friends—Kadiri has high hopes for the 2023 season.

“I think people have their doubts just because we lost so many people,” Kadiri says. “But I think we’ll be fine. Every team lost a good amount of seniors last year. We’re all level on the playing field. I think we can be very successful.”

When not on the field, Kadiri can be found baking, running, making pottery, or creating “Kadiri’s Kitchen” segments for the Evanstonian, where she films food reviews from around Evanston.