Stajduhar makes an impact
New Middletown resident helps families facing pediatric illness
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NEW MIDDLETOWN - Tatiana Stajduhar has traveled to and lived in many places around the United States. Stajduhar, 28, grew up in Orlando, Florida. She graduated in 2017 from First Academy School in Orlando. Straight from high school, she entered the Air Force with hopes to become a pilot.
Stajduhar said that though she could not enroll in the Air Force flight program, she was able to take private lessons and is now licensed to fly private planes. She said she enjoys flying and has piloted a Cessna.
Instead of becoming a pilot in the Air Force, Stajduhar served as a logistics specialist. She was in the service for two years and was based in Abilene, Texas, the entire time. Her job responsibilities there included "ensuring correct reporting to senior leadership, researching discrepancies for corrective action and handling interactions with good organizational abilities." Stajduhar was discharged with the rank of E-3.
Stajduhar said she met her husband, Mason Stajduhar, a goalkeeper for Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake, based in Sandy, Utah. Tatiana laughed as she recalled, "I thought he was joking when he said he was a professional athlete! We knew each other for three months and now we've been married for four years." Though she said she has traveled with him to games, "in one summer, we were in Vegas, Salt Lake, Orlando," but added now she only travels occasionally and said she is looking forward to the Philadelphia game coming up soon.
Tatiana founded StajduHeart to "support families facing pediatric illness through mentorship, community events, and direct support programs while building stronger connections between athletes and the communities they represent." Stajduheart is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Tatiana stated that she "was driven by faith, family, and service. My goal is to use sports and community to create real impact where it's needed most."
Initially, before starting her organization, Tatiana said she and her husband would volunteer at a hospital in Salt Lake City. She said this volunteerism gave her the idea of starting a program to build "real relationships, walking alongside families, and creating meaningful experiences that remind them they are not alone" The StajduHeart foundation works with hospitals affiliated with major league soccer to identify families and offer experiences in the soccer world. Tatiana noted, "each professional soccer team is affiliated with a hospital in the team's home city." She added that patients are referred to her so that a patient and the family can attend a professional game, "at no charge, with transportation and food thrown in."
Tatiana said she enjoys working with the foundation and meeting the patients and their families. "We get to meet the families and to know them." She added she also enjoys seeing the families come to the field and be able to go onto the soccer field before the games.
StajduHeart is offering a free soccer clinic on December 21st for fifty children at the Tri-County Soccer Clube in Youngstown. The morning session will include twenty-five children, ages seven to eleven. The afternoon session, also for twenty-five children, is for ages twelve to seventeen.
Application forms will be posted on the StajduHeart Instagram page.
Tatiana admitted that soccer is not her first love in sports, "I'm really a hockey fan!" She said she and her husband like attending games at the tier one level, "they're more exciting, and the enthusiasm is greater there." She added she is a big fan of the Orlando, Florida Ice Hockey team, the Solar Bears. She said she plans to attend the Youngstown Phantoms games this season.
As if being involved in her husband's career and the Stajduheart Organization, Stajduhar said she was excited at being asked to "walk in the Fashion Week Show in New York City on Sept. 11. Stajduhar said she thought the dresses designed by Romey Roe for the Miss America Pageant were "gorgeous." "I had read about his work with human trafficking and thought what an awesome person so I reached out to him asking if I could help with Fashion week." She said she was pleased when he asked her to model a dress at show.
"Modeling was so fun," Stajduhar remembered, "I was nervous, but the models were very friendly and helpful to me." She said she was surprised when she realized she needed to wear six-inch heels on the runway, but added, "they assigned me a walking coach! I did pretty good...I didn't fall," she chuckled. She said she only wore the one outfit, but she enjoyed the experience and enjoyed meeting the models and other fashion designers.
Stajduhar lives in New Middletown with her daughter and her husband, though she admits they travel "quite a bit - just looking at my Delta airline list, I have traveled seventeen thousand miles this year - and that doesn't count the other airlines we use."
When they are not attending soccer games around the country and during the off-season, Stajduhar lives with her husband, Mason, and her seven-year-old daughter in New Middletown. She said they chose to settle in New Middletown because it is close to her daughter's father. She added she enjoys the area and it is a good place for "Mason to relax after the soccer season."