Get to Know OL Reign Defender Adrienne Jordan
OL Reign defender Adrienne Jordan, who signed with the club on June 1, isn’t afraid of embracing the unknown. After spending most of her life in Colorado, professional soccer has taken her across Europe, before winding up back in the United States in the NWSL.
Jordan grew up in Colorado Springs with her American father and German mother. The pair had met while her father, then a member of the Army, was stationed overseas. While she spent most of her childhood in Colorado, Jordan also took numerous trips back to Germany with her mother.
“When it was just me, my mom and I went very frequently,” Jordan said. “My dad wouldn’t go that often because he doesn’t know German that well. My mom and I would go on month-long vacations to visit friends and family. I have friends there that I consider family over there because I’ve known them since I was little. They’re my mom’s friends from growing up, so it’s a cool little generational thing that we have.”
Jordan excelled as an athlete. At Rampart High School, she lettered in swimming, track and field and basketball, in addition to winning a state championship in soccer in 2011.
She chose to stay in Colorado for college, attending the nearby University of Northern Colorado. The defender quickly played her way into a starting role, starting the last 15 matches of the season and earning a Big Sky All-Conference First Team nod.
Jordan was poised for more success as a sophomore, before an ankle injury sidelined her.
“Looking back at it now, I really should have redshirted,” Jordan said. “I just wanted to get out there and play again, so my sophomore year was a turning point for me on the mental side of things because I had to sit out and watch my teammates play. That spring, I think I really found my footing within myself as a player. At that point, junior and senior year, I think I just took off and something just clicked.”
Jordan nabbed two more All-Conference First Team awards as a junior and senior and was the 2015 Big Sky Defensive MVP and the Big Sky All-Tournament team. Jordan’s experiences in Germany with her mother steered her professional dreams.
“When I first started thinking about going pro, I was really focused on playing in Germany,” Jordan said. “That’s where I wanted to go. I worked on finishing my education to a point where that would be feasible and possibly join a team mid-season. When the time came closer at the end of my senior season, going into that December period, it became apparent that that was going to be really challenging because I didn’t have a lot of contacts over there. The one contact I did have told me it was basically going to be impossible at that point in time.”
Other routes would quickly present themselves. Jordan was drafted in the fourth round of the 2016 NWSL College Draft by Chicago, becoming the first player ever drafted from the Big Sky conference. In Chicago, Jordan was offered an opportunity to stay with the Red Stars as a training player, but soon fielded an offer to head to Sweden and play professionally for Östersunds DFF.
Jordan moved on to Icelandic side IBV for two years, with whom she won the 2017 Icelandic Cup. She spent the 2018-19 season in Italy with Atalanta. When that club dissolved at the end of the year, Jordan made a move to English side Birmingham City, choosing to ply her trade in the Women’s Super League.
The move was a big step up for Jordan.
“For me, (the WSL) was the most professional league that I have played in,” Jordan said. “Before that, the foreign players were professional and the domestic players all had day jobs. At Birmingham, all of us were professional. Some of us had school on the side, but it was really great. I don’t know if that’s the case for all the clubs in the WSL, but Birmingham was really catering to players that were striving to better themselves and get a higher education. On the football side, I learned a lot. It really helped expand my soccer IQ. It pushed me on a technical and tactical level. The coaches were really focused, not only on how the team did, but also in developing the players as individuals. That really helped me because that’s something that I’m always trying to work on.”
Jordan was contacted by OL Reign regarding a potential move in January, but initially chose to stay in hopes of helping Birmingham stave off relegation. After COVID-19 put the soccer world into an uncertain position, however, Jordan chose to accept the offer and join up with the club.
Jordan describes herself as shy by nature, but expects her latest chapter with OL Reign to help continue to push her development as a player and person.
As for her abilities as a player, Jordan described herself as a sturdy defender, who hopes to focus more on getting involved further up the field with OL Reign.
“I enjoy getting forward and putting the other team on the back foot, but I feel like it’s something I can get better at, especially taking players on one-on-one out on the wing,” Jordan said.
Jordan knows that the league is facing a tight timetable before resuming play, but thinks the level of competition in the group will help integrate her quickly into the club.
“The girls have been incredibly welcoming,” Jordan said. “Quite a few of them on day one came up and introduced themselves. I did my best to introduce myself, but I know there’s a lot of new faces both for me and the returning players, as well, including our coach. I think it’s better right now that we’re all nice, but we still have that competition for all of us to get better. Now, we just have to come together.”