Billet families
A room, a seat at the table, and a season.
Some Cardinals come from outside the Fraser Valley, and they need somewhere to live while they play. Billet families are the homes that make that possible, and the club is always looking for more of them.
What hosting a player involves.
A host family provides room and board: a private bedroom, good meals, and the support any teenager living away from home needs. Host families end up acting as mentors, and often as a second set of parents, which is a bigger role than the word billet suggests.
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A private bedroom, and meals
Room and board for the season, in a home where the player has a space of their own.
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A criminal record check for every adult in the home
Every adult living in a billet home completes a local criminal record background check. The club asks for it in every home, without exception.
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No more than two players at a time
The club does not place more than two players with one family.
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A monthly stipend
Host families receive a monthly stipend toward the costs of having a player in the house. The amount is set family by family, because no two situations are the same.
How long a player stays.
Players usually arrive at the end of August and stay until a couple of days after their season ends. What the club asks of both sides in between is simple: talk to each other early. If a question or a situation comes up, the family, the player and the coaches sort it out straight away rather than letting it sit.
Players know that respect for the household is not optional. The club is trying to produce good ballplayers and good people, in that order of difficulty, and a billet home is where a lot of the second part happens.
Plenty of these relationships outlast the baseball. Families stay in touch with players long after they have gone off to college.
If your player is coming from out of town.
Cardinals who move to Abbotsford to play are placed with a billet family, in a home the club has vetted, with a criminal record check on every adult who lives there. Ask staff about billeting when you register, and they will walk you through how a placement is made.
Billet Family Program Registration, Player's Family