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The Raiders ’27 team includes families across a wide economic spectrum, parents said.
“Some parents are relying on this season… to get their kid the chance to be seen so that they can get scholarships,” Libertini said.
As far as attempts to recoup some of their money, parents worry that credit card disputes may prove difficult because many payments were structured as recurring charges, which credit card companies are typically reluctant to reverse.
Many moms and dads expect to lose substantial amounts of money.
Scrambling for salvation
In the days following the announcement, parents mobilized.
The Raiders ’27 team held Zoom meetings, assigned tasks, and collectively negotiated with multiple organizations, including Team 91, Be the Best Lacrosse and Legacy.
“This team truly is family. These parents came together to make this whole thing with 91 happen,” McElwee said. “Our coaches were the ones that were negotiating with 91 at first, and then the parents got directly involved because we didn’t know who we could trust.”
Libertini, serving as team mom, coordinated the effort.
“She organized the Zoom meeting,” McElwee recalled. “And she gave each person their own assignment.”
Team 91 ultimately offered to take the Raiders ’27 team under their Team 91 Chrome banner, allowing them to keep their existing coach. The offer came at a reduced rate of approximately $1,200 per family — but that’s on top of the $5,800 families already paid to Rebels.
The boys voted unanimously to stay together with their coaches. In text messages to their coaches, players wrote: “Coach, please know we’re not mad at you” and “we want to finish this ride with you and no one else,” McElwee said.
Some boys talk about trying to get recruited to the same college so they can continue playing together — a testament to the bonds they’ve created on the lacrosse field.
“Our boys literally love our coaches,” McElwee said.
The team launched a GoFundMe campaign last week, seeking support to cover the additional costs.
“There are plenty of players on our team who scratch and claw to get the money to pay for this so that their kid has a chance to play lacrosse and has a chance to go to college, play lacrosse,” McElwee said.
Not all former Rebels teams have been as fortunate as the 2027 Raiders to land affiliation with a new organization.
The Rebels ’27 double-A team — Rebels United — with multiple Division I college prospects, is still searching for an organization willing to take them in.
“For us, for 2027 especially … there’s no future, there’s no return on investment,” McElwee explained, describing why older teams are less attractive for organizations to take on. “For the younger kids, they can bring these kids in and give them a good deal, and then next year bring them in for the full price.”
Peragine said the Rebels’ seventh-grade Stealth team, which includes about 10 Patchogue-Medford students, also scrambled to find a new home. In total, he estimated 80-100 Pat-Med students across sixth through ninth grades have been impacted by the Rebels collapse.
“It’s hard pulling your kid out of something that they love,” Peragine said, describing the dilemma parents faced as warning signs accumulated over the years.
A different perspective
Not all parents share a negative view of Brennan and the Rebels organization.
Christian Clark, a Commack parent whose two sons played for Rebels, said the organization had a meaningful impact on his family.
“As a parent, you always hope the people coaching and mentoring your children genuinely care about them — not just as players, but as kids who are growing, learning, and trying to find out who they are,” Clark wrote in an email to Greater Long Island. “This has been my experience with Mike: He always put the kids first.”
Clark said the Rebels became “more than a lacrosse program” for his sons.
“Mike promoted an environment where kids could build confidence, learn discipline, and grow into strong, well-rounded individuals,” he wrote. “As a parent watching from the sideline, that means everything.”
Clark acknowledged the negative comments surrounding the closure but said his experience was different.
“What I’ve seen constantly is someone who cares, shows up, and puts in the work for these kids,” he wrote. “Mike has had a meaningful, positive influence on my family and so many others.”
Rich Petrone, a longtime youth lacrosse coach whose children played on travel lacrosse teams, said he supported Brennan, while adding that the Rebels collapse “highlights problems across the travel sports industry that go far beyond any one coach or club.”
Emotional toll
Brady McElwee had been thriving.
Three years ago, he was a 5-foot, 120-pound football center. He’s since grown to 5-foot-9, 158 pounds, and his lacrosse skills developed to the point where he’s in conversations with multiple colleges, including Salve Regina in Rhode Island, Belmont Abbey in North Carolina, and Lincoln Memorial in Tennessee.
More importantly, lacrosse had become his academic motivation.
“Lacrosse is what is motivating him to be a better student,” McElwee said. “He’s doing so much better in his junior year of school than he has before because he’s realized how important his grades are.”
For Matthew Libertini, who maintains a 102 weighted GPA while taking multiple AP classes and hopes to study engineering or forensic chemistry in college while playing D2 or D3 lacrosse, the timing is equally devastating.
“We just happen to be probably the most vulnerable group because of our age bracket,” Kim Libertini said of the junior-year players.
The lacrosse parents Greater Long Island spoke to said their experience has heightened their skepticism for travel sports.
“I think it’s soured my experience with regards to the travel sports industry,” Libertini said. “Things like this tarnish the industry.”
Wishing for transparency
Looking back, parents said honest communication at any point during the Rebels decline could have allowed families to make different choices and better position themselves.
“If we had this information prior to the start of the season, if he had been honest along the way with us, we might have been able to position ourselves better as opposed to this last-minute scramble that took place,” Libertini said.
The merchandise solicitation just days before the bankruptcy announcement particularly galled Libertini and other parents.
“To me, it’s just so outlandish that any business person would… or could do that,” she said. “Knowing that you were going to make this announcement right after the holiday and then additionally to send out a link that said please buy more gear.”
Top: Matthew Libertini, 16, of Locust Valley (Credit: Tiffany Penge)
