New view on games for Adorno

If you frequent University of Maine athletic events, you have seen her. But you may not know her name.

She is Tanya Adorno and you’ll see her even more this year.

Adorno, who just turned 22, is the new coordinator of athletic events at the university. She graduated in May with a degree in physical education and health after a prolific career as a goalkeeper for the Maine women’s soccer team.

She owns several school records, including career (23) and single-season (10) shutouts along with career wins (28).

In addition to her studies and soccer career, she also worked several jobs. She was involved in crowd control and helping convert the ice at Alfond Arena into a basketball floor and vice versa. She was the early morning attendant at the Lahti Fitness Center.

“I love to be busy and I love working with people,” said the affable Adorno, who added that juggling her various schedules was beneficial because it forced her to budget her time.

“My time management was perfect because it had to be,” said Adorno. “It helped me school-wise and with soccer. And it helped me get this job.”

Her new job is all-encompassing.

Her responsibilities include managing crowd control and parking; locker room arrangements for opposing teams and officials; making sure there are timekeepers, announcers, and attendants for the various sports, and “tons of paperwork.” She has 31 work-study students working for her.

She is the go-to person at every game. Her walkie-talkie is her best friend. If there’s a problem, contact Tanya.

“I have something to do with every game that is held here,” said Adorno. “As a student-athlete, I had no idea what went on behind the scenes.”

Adorno said she has “always been good at multi-tasking. I don’t get too stressed out. This could be a very stressful position.”

She said parking is the “biggest headache” she encounters but won’t indict her alma mater for its obvious lack of parking.

“There’s never enough parking at any school. You look at the big schools that can hold 70,000-80,000 for a football game and at a lot of them, [the fans] can’t even see the field from their parking space. They have shuttles taking them to the stadium,” Adorno said.

“You can never make everybody happy. We do our best to try to inform and place people,” said Adorno.

She admits that she has the type of job in which she can “never get ahead. But I understand that.”

Making her job easier is her genuine love of the Maine lifestyle and Maine people.

Orono is a far cry from her native Farmington, Conn., a Hartford suburb.

The third of Angelo and Helena Adorno’s four children and only daughter was a city girl growing up. She played five sports in high school: soccer, basketball, and softball, lacrosse, or track in the spring.

Naturally, she also worked.

When she took Walter Abbott’s outdoor leadership course at Maine, “It opened a whole new world for me. Nature is pretty amazing.”

She spent Monday’s holiday at the beach in Bar Harbor and biking around the Loop Road.

She credits her co-workers for making her job easier, saying, “There are so many unbelievable people working here.”

And she loves the challenge of the job.

“I love ironing things out and being a fixer. It always helps to be prepared. That’s what it’s all about. Being prepared and organized,” she said.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-310-8600 or by email at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.