Rebels Lacrosse’s collapse leaves youth teams across Long Island struggling to regroup

A Miller Place mom, who asked not to be identified, said she grew concerned about what she perceived as organizational and financial problems and pulled her children from Rebels after they had played in the organization for years.

“They (Rebels) were good in the beginning, but I just feel they tried to do too much,” the parent said. “They tried to become too big, too soon.”

After withdrawing her children, she contacted her bank and placed a stop-payment on scheduled $1,800 installments to Rebels. Her family had been on a payment plan rather than paying all fees upfront.

Since the middle of the summer, she said, she has received daily notifications from her bank about attempts by Rebels to withdraw the payment.

“Every single day,” she said, pointing down to her cell phone screen as she scrolled through her bank account alerts.

She added that she knows of many other parents who left the program and are trying to recoup payments for equipment never acquired or used, and for services that were not rendered.

Multiple parents reported that college recruiters were promised payment but never received it. The parents believe this created a “blackball” effect where recruiters developed negative associations with Rebels athletes.

“At the Blatant exposure (event), Rebels promised all these college coaches a lot of money to come and see our kids play,” Libertini said. “And then apparently they stiffed them.”

For juniors like Matthew Libertini and Brady McElwee (now 16), who maintain strong academic records — Matthew carries a 102 weighted GPA while taking IB and AP classes — and harbor dreams of playing Division II or III college lacrosse, the reputational damage could not have come at a more crucial time.

“This year is absolutely 100% the most important year for a player,” McElwee said. “This is when you get noticed. This is when they… pull you in.”

The premium fees families paid for recruiting seasons — $5,000-$5,800 compared to $3,000 for younger age groups — were supposed to include tournament videos for highlight reels, direct recruiting assistance, outreach to college coaches, and paid memberships to recruiting platforms IMLCA and NCSA.

“We never received our tournament videos. So my son doesn’t have stuff for highlights,” McElwee said. “We don’t have any of the perks that we paid a premium price for.”

Brennan disputed the characterization that recruiting services were not provided.

“All recruiting age athletes received IMLCA accounts, along with access to our staff to help through the difficult recruiting process,” he said. “In my 15 years, myself or my staff has helped over 750 athletes go on to play in college. We have a proven track record when it comes to recruiting.”

However, parents said when their families tried to access their IMLCA accounts last week before the shutdown announcement, they discovered their accounts had expired. Each family now faces an additional $499 fee to establish individual memberships.

When McElwee paid his fees in summer 2024, Brennan had personally reached out offering a discount for upfront cash payment and promising recruiting assistance for his son Brady, McElwee said.

“He asked how Brady was doing with recruiting? And he said, ‘Please call me if you need anything, if you need me to reach out to anybody,'” McElwee recalled.

Afterward, McElwee reached out three or four times for help, he said, without receiving a response.

Four days later, around Thanksgiving, in a message provided by Peragine, Brennan announced what appeared to be a partnership with Team 91 and Dynamic Sports Management, suggesting Rebels would “move forward under the new banner: Team 91 Rebels” with “enhanced training opportunities, elite tournament pathways, and a national network.”

The announcement promised families “stability, trust, and a proven long-term infrastructure.” Three days after that optimistic message, Brennan sent families a link to purchase Rebels merchandise, parents said.

Then, within days, came the shutdown announcement.

“You know that you’re in trouble, and you’re sending families to pay for merchandise that they’ll never be able to use,” Libertini said, describing the merchandise solicitation.

Brennan said in his statement that the organization’s decline happened rapidly.

“This all happened very fast,” he said. “We had every intention of continuing to operate for years to come, just like we have for the past 15 years.”

Parents noted how the idea of a Team 91 partnership with Rebels had fallen apart. They said Team 91 had been interested in acquiring specific high-performing Rebels teams — including the seventh-grade, nationally ranked Stealth team — but those teams had already left for other organizations by the time acquisition discussions began in earnest.

The bankruptcy was filed under Blatant LLC — the apparel company name — rather than the Rebels Lacrosse name, a move that parents said obscures transparency.

The email identified Richard Artura of Phillips, Artura & Cox in Lindenhurst as representing the organization in bankruptcy proceedings.

McElwee provided both emails to Greater Long Island.

Parents dispute the timeline Brennan laid out in his emails to McElwee, citing years of what they describe as unpaid bills, bounced checks and undelivered services. The parents argue the organization appeared insolvent long before those teams departed.

Greater Long Island first reached out to Brennan for comment last week after the shutdown announcement. Brennan did not respond to the initial request for comment, but texted Greater Long Island Tuesday night asking the news site to send him questions, after which he would either “set up (an) interview or issue (a) statement.”

In the statement he provided Wednesday, Brennan said he and his business partner have been working to help displaced families find new teams.

“Please know that we have been, and will continue to, work diligently to ensure that all families affected by this closure will have an opportunity to play the sport they love,” he wrote. “We have continued to work with parents reaching out to guide them in finding a new home to play the sport they love.”

Brennan added that “the past several days have been extremely difficult on our Rebels families and players, ourselves, and even more-so on our young families who have always been there to support us.”

Greater Long Island sent Brennan questions Wednesday morning per his request, seeking clarification on the timeline of financial troubles, unfulfilled services, college coach payments, and communications in the final weeks. Brennan responded that he was given only a few hours to reply and could only offer a statement at this time.

For the Raiders ’27 team alone, families paid $5,800 per player — totaling more than $135,000 for the 24-player roster, parents said. In return, they received two fall tournaments instead of the promised three, and none of the premium recruiting services included in their fees, parents said.

Peragine said his son’s eighth-grade team paid about $4,700 per player. With 20 kids on the team, that’s roughly $94,000.

“He collected almost $65,000 from our team alone” from this past September until the shutdown, Peragine said, estimating his team received “maybe 20 practices and two tournaments” in return.

For some families, the financial burden extends beyond lost fees.

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