- November 25, 2024
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Jordan Di Verniero loves soccer.
So much so, the 17-year-old makes the 1 1/2 hour trip to Orlando nearly every day after school to train and play with her club team, the Florida Kraze Krush. When she’s not working out with her personal trainer or going through practices with her high school team, the Spruce Creek Hawks, she’s perfecting her craft with the Krush. And after two hours of dribbling, passing and kicking, it’s time to go home.
A student in Spruce Creek’s rigorous International Baccalaureate program, Di Verniero has to find the time to do homework whenever she can.
“On the way over to practice, I do homework, and on the way back, I do homework. And as soon as I get home, I go right back to doing homework and repeat the process the next day,” she said. “When that’s not enough, I don’t have time to sleep as much as I would like. I’ll go to bed around 3 a.m., and I’ll get up at 5 a.m. to get ready to go to school and have one last cram study session.”
All of Di Verniero’s hard work is soon to pay off: On Feb. 7, she will sign her national letter of intent to play college soccer for Harvard University.
Di Verniero, who fell in love with the game at 3 years old, dreamed of playing college soccer in the Ivy Leagues her entire life. The process was long. She took multiple visits to the likes of Harvard, Columbia and Brown. She was scouted by several Ivy League coaches. She worked tirelessly to get a 34 on her ACT and straight-A’s in all of her IB classes.
All the while, she maintained her work ethic on the field.
Last season, Di Verniero set the Spruce Creek record for goals scored in a season (by boys and girls) with 49 goals. She also finished the year with 99 goals to become the Hawks’ all-time leading goal scorer. Now, she’s inching closer to becoming the greatest goal-scorer in Volusia County history.
“I always wanted to play college soccer. That was my ultimate dream,” she said. “So, I realized that in order to do that, I’d have to put in the effort and the training time, and that’s how I got to where I am now.”
Soccer is Di Verniero’s escape. It’s where she retreats to when the outside world becomes just too much. It’s also the place where she connects with some of her best friends. For her whole life, she’s played the game with and against the same group of girls.
They all share each others’ highest and lowest points, and for Di Verniero, she owes them her all.
“They’ve been right with me every step of the way,” she said of her teammates. “I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish any of this without them. I owe all of my success to them. They are the ones who put me here.”
