With the Western Canadian Baseball League season a little over a month away, the Moose Jaw Miller Express are looking for a few families interested in hosting a player or two for the upcoming campaign.
As is the case with teams throughout the league, players are hosted by billet families during the two-and-a-half month season, which sees games beginning at the end of May and running through to mid-August, depending on how deep they go in the playoffs.
Fans who take advantage of the opportunity will not only be helping out the team, there’s a good chance they’ll develop lifelong friendships and even gain an unofficial member of the family.
That’s pretty much the case for Lindsey and Ryan Stephenson, who enjoyed the experience of hosting players last season so much that they took on the role of billet coordinators for the 2023 campaign.
“Our billets have become part of our extended family, we’ve been in touch all year long, we have a seven-year-old daughter and she considers them her big brothers,” said Lindsey, whose family hosted infielder Luke LaChance and outfielder Michael Speck last summer.
“They’re always really busy with their schedules, but they take the time to bond with the family, and we heard a lot of the same experiences with other families as well, how close they’d become.”
That’s never more apparent than the annual Billet Family Night prior to a late-season game, when the players present gifts to their families during a special onfield ceremony -- there are always plenty of hugs and even a few tears, a sure sign of how close the players and families become.
“They would take our daughter to her own ball practices and she just thought she was the coolest kid in town,” Stephenson said. “It’s just such an awesome experience.”
Since the players are for the most part in their early-20s, it’s a different situation compared to hosting a young 16- or 17-year-old hockey player. As college students, some on the verge of graduation, Miller Express players can deal with a lot of day-to-day life on their own.
“They’re very independent, and we kind of gave the guys the option where they’re always invited and never obligated. If there were family events and things like that, they were always welcome to hang out,” Stephenson said.
“We’ve even had a family who was away for a bit, and as long as you’re comfortable having a player at the house, they’re pretty independent and responsible. Most of them have been billeted the majority of their summer ball, so this is nothing new to them.”
The process of becoming a billet is relatively easy. Simply reach out to Lindsey or Ryan or any board member and things will be put in motion, beginning with an interview explaining the expectations and such, followed by a home visit before finally being accepted.
Billet families receive season tickets for the Miller Express as well as a $ 400-a-month stipend per player.
Players for the most part will begin to arrive in the last week of May, with first home game for the Miller Express on Saturday, May 27 at Ross Wells Park.
For more information on the Miller Express and the WCBL, visit their website at www.millerexpress.ca and to start the process of becoming a billet family, contact Lindsey Stephenson at (306) 209-9492 or lindseystephenson@hotmail.com or Ryan Stephenson at (306) 209-5867 or ryan_m_stephenson@hotmail.com.
