Portland, OR. The Tenacity Project, Inc., a national girl’s lacrosse organization, is announcing tryouts for teams based in Portland, Oregon starting in February, 2016. Tenacity Elite, formerly BearLax, will hold an information session on Tuesday, January 26th at a location to be announced. At this meeting details will be discussed regarding the grade pure teams planned for 2016. Please click HERE to receive more details prior to that session. Tryouts will be held on February 4th and 5th, with times and locations also to be announced.

The mission of the Tenacity Project is to advance the sport of women’s lacrosse by creating a competitive environment where players and coaches are empowered to reach their highest potential. The Tenacity Project aims to get more girls participating in lacrosse and learning life lessons through a diverse mix of programs including – camps, club teams, coach development, community outreach, and college counseling. The California and Texas programs have sent close to 100 girls to play at the collegiate level, with 32 girls from the class of 2016 admitted so far to schools where they plan to play next year.

The Tenacity Project is run by former college players and coaches including All Americans, World Cup Champions, and Conference MVPs. The founder of the Tenacity Project, Theresa Sherry, was a three time All American, two time National Champion, and Ivy League Player of the Year for Princeton University. Sherry won an Under 19 World Cup Championship playing alongside Tenacity Texas Director, Amy Markwort, and under the tutelage of Tenacity National Director, Wendy Kridel. Kridel was inducted into the Baltimore Hall of Fame where she won seven state championships during 25 years of coaching high school lacrosse. The Tenacity staff also includes former MPSF Player of the Year, Lauren Schmidt (Stanford ’11), who runs the Tenacity Sacramento programs after spending time coaching at Stanford, Cal, and Fresno State. Other Tenacity employees include former college standouts with Oregon ties including University of Oregon graduate, Chelsea Randel (’14) and Lake Oswego graduate, Dana Kilsby, another three time All American for Santa Clara University (’15).

The Tenacity Project is excited to announce that the Tenacity Oregon programs will be directed by Natalie Harrington, current Head Coach at George Fox University. Harrington was a High School All American, and played at the Division I level at Fresno State where she was also a two-time team captain. Harrington was one of the best players to come out of Oregon High School lacrosse after leading Oregon City to a state championship in 2009. Additional Tenacity Oregon coaches will be announced at the end of January, along with summer tournament schedule and other program details.