Building a successful Junior A hockey team requires a good billet program, emphasizes the Olds Grizzlys' general manager and associate coach.
“Having coached for over 20 years and being a general manager, I’ve always found that the most successful program we have on the ice and in the community are also the best billet programs,” said Garry VanHereweghe. “So they go hand in hand.”
Team officials are focusing heavily on bettering the billet program this year with the addition of a billet coordinator.
Fourteen families have already opened their homes to Olds Grizzlys hopefuls and ideally another five more are needed, said Brenda Galye who took on the new position.
Billets provide the players with a home away from home from now until possibly April, depending on playoffs, said Galye said.
It can be a rewarding experience, often creating friendships that last, said Galye.
Just ask Cindy Tookey and her husband Jeremy, whose temporary billet Logan Bromhead stayed with them until the end of the season. They have carried on a relationship ever since.
“They said we’ve got a boy sleeping on a couch. I had a spare room for someone to sleep in so why not?” said Tookey whose family took in hockey billets when she was growing up.
Being first-time billets, Tookey said they were a little apprehensive at first.
“I didn’t think I’d have the time to do it. I felt like I’d have to cook for them all the time and clean and do all that but you don’t. They’re grown men; they can do it themselves. If you’re feeding three people, what’s one more?” she said. “If the fit is there, it’s really nothing to be a billet. It really is nothing.”
Bromhead, who has never billeted before, said he was grateful that the Tookeys took him in.
“It was definitely very emotional and tough leaving my family for the first time,” Bromhead said, adding it was nice to have another family to talk to on a daily basis about on- and off-ice issues.
Hailing from Vancouver, B.C., Bromfield said his billet family helped him adjust to the new landscape away from home.
Tookey said with both Bromhead and themselves being new to billeting, it was a perfect match. It didn’t take long to figure out the expectations, said Bromhead.
“It’s pretty straightforward as a player. All you have to do is respect the area, respect the house, know the rules and boundaries, and live within that.”
Players abide by a club-set curfew and are required to either attend school, be employed or volunteer when not engaged in team activity.
“Gaming all night and then sleeping all day – that won’t happen,” said the team’s general manager. “There’s expectations they be out of the house by 9 a.m.”
VanHereweghe added that the club is there to support the billets, to help ensure “little things, don’t turn into big things.”
Meetings are regularly scheduled to discuss any issues, social events are planned, and there’s opportunity for billet families to not only connect with each other but the Olds Grizzlys management and staff as well.
Galye said every effort is made to ensure a successful match.
Billet families aren’t restricted to a certain household makeup. They can include individuals, couples with or without children, retirees or single parent families.
“We’re putting our players in there so fitness-minded is awesome but they don’t have to be,” said Galye.
Potential billets will undergo some screening and a home visit.
“First impressions are huge to me. I want to see the general cleanliness of the home and where the boys will be sleeping,” she said.
Billets are given a $350 a month stipend to help with the additional costs like food. They also receive season’s tickets and invitations to team events.
For more information on becoming a billet, please call Brenda Galye at 403-813-0671 or Garry VanHereweghe at 780-808-5077.
