Basketball · Issue No. 24
The Takeaway: A New Program With No Track Record Deserves Extra Scrutiny
Week of September 14, 2026
THE TAKEAWAY: Real practices and real teammates made this scam feel legitimate for months — activity alone doesn't confirm an organization is real.
Dozens of families in the Saratoga, New York area signed their kids up for a new travel basketball program called the Saratoga Raptors in early 2026. Roughly 40 players across two age groups — 12-and-under and 14-and-under — began practicing at a local high school. Parents paid registration fees. Then the uniforms never arrived. Then the season's first scheduled tournament game simply didn't happen.
By July, the Saratoga County Sheriff's Office had arrested Norbert Sygdziak, the 44-year-old founder of the program, on charges including grand larceny and multiple counts of scheme to defraud. One parent told a local paper he and his ex-wife had paid $840 to enroll their 12-year-old son — money they say is gone, along with a season their son and roughly three dozen teammates never actually got to play.
Sygdziak has denied the allegations, telling a reporter the program was real and that the families involved had, in fact, practiced together for months before anything fell apart. Whatever the eventual legal outcome, the practical result for the families is the same either way: a team that trained together for weeks never played a single game.
What makes this kind of scam effective is exactly what made this one work for months: kids actually showing up, actually practicing, actually building team relationships — real activity that made the whole thing feel legitimate right up until it wasn't. A new program with no prior track record, no league affiliation you can independently verify, and no scheduled games on a real, checkable calendar is worth a harder look before money changes hands — regardless of how good practice looks in the meantime.
This piece ran in PPA Pro Issue No. 24, alongside a camp spotlight and trainer pick for every sport. Subscribe free.