Lacrosse team makes stadium shine

Last Friday was a day off for Sisters students, but you wouldn't have known it by visiting Reed Stadium. More than 100 lacrosse players, parents, coaches and Sisters School District volunteers were hard at work on a major spring cleanup.

"This is about the lacrosse program trying to lead by example and honor a sponsor that's been very generous to us," said junior varsity coach and school board member Andrew Gorayeb.

Equipment manufacturer Warrior Lacrosse has donated thousands of dollars worth of equipment to the Outlaws lacrosse program, including cleats for many players, Gorayeb explained.

"When we asked if there was anything we could do to thank them for all the generosity, they said, 'Pay it forward.'"

And pay it forward they did.

The student crew, ranging in age from elementary school kids to high school varsity players, picked up debris, laid wood chips and constructed a gravel trail at the entrance to the stadium. Marcus Peck and Doug Hull each showed up with a Bobcat to assist in the work, and the school district tractor weaved among the trees moving wood chips.

Gorayeb said the school district went the extra mile to make the workday feasible.

"Seriously, the school district bent over backwards to make this happen," he said.

A painting crew painted the press box, and the bleachers got a pressure-washing.

The cleanup project is just in time for next week's SALI (Sisters Annual Lacrosse Invitational) tournament, which will fill the fields of Sisters with 61 teams from all over Oregon, Nevada and perhaps Washington and Idaho. Teams range from third- and fourth-grade squads on up to varsity teams.

"Nine fields, playing from about 4 p.m. On Friday to 1 p.m. on Sunday," Gorayeb said. "There's no empty fields the entire time."

Sisters Park & Recreation District helped with the management of the hundreds of players involved by creating a web link which will allow anyone with a smart phone to check their next game and the status of the tournament at any time from anywhere.

The tournament is expected to bring some 3,000 people to Sisters, which will "generate economic activity for the community," Gorayeb said. "It's a big tournament. We are consistently told by people that are coming over from the Valley that they're happy to get out of the rain and come over to Sisters. And they like the way we run it."

Gorayeb expects the tournament to bring in about $10,000 in revenue for Outlaws lacrosse. As a school board member, he sees potential to expand the model to help fund Sisters' sorely cash-strapped athletics programs.

"We can do things like SALI in every sport," he said. "Maybe on different scales, but in every sport."