//Host Family Program

Many players leave home to play Midget and Junior hockey. A billet or host family home is where a player lives during the season. This is a player's home-away-from home.

A pre-established fee of $600 per player per month is paid directly to the billet family. This helps with additional household expenses, especially food and drink. Billet families are asked to provide three meals per day and snacks for their players.

Host families may be two-parent families, single-parent families, and occasionally an "empty nester." The common denominator is a desire by the host family to make a difference in a player's life

Yes. Players can share transportation expenses, and often provide company for one another. The only requirement is that each player has adequate space/living arrangements. Each player is expected to have his own bed, closet or dresser, and acceptable access to a restroom.

Players arrive in mid-August. The host family commitment is through the end of the hockey season. Most times an arrangement is made between the player's family and the billet host family for the player to stay until the end of the school year.

Players must have medical insurance from their own families. Billet host parents are never responsible for medical payments.

You are welcome to invite players to join you for family celebrations or activities; however, it is not mandatory for you to do so. All players will have time off at the holidays.

Yes, MEAHA requires background screenings for billet families and completion of the national SafeSport program.

Each year players will generally arrive in mid-August at a date dependent upon the preseason practice required to prepare for the game schedule. This also allows sufficient time for high school and college student enrollment. Billet compensation begins for the first full month of the player's residency.

A) Room- Billet host families provide a private bedroom for the player (or a shared room for 2 players). The room should be furnished much like a dorm room: bed, desk & chair, and clothing storage. Players should not be housed in a room with younger members of the billet host family. The billet home should be clean and organized.

B) Meals - Basic meals - 3 times a day.

C) Monitoring of Behavior- Billet host families assist Twin City Thunder management by ensuring that each player complies with Twin City Thunder Rules and Regulations. In addition, billet host families may impose additional rules to fit their lifestyle.

D) Internet Access- Billet host families are responsible to provide Internet access to the player.

E) Transportation- Players are required to provide their own transportation unless billet host family chooses to provide transportation. It is highly recommended that the player is not allowed to drive a billet host family vehicle. If a player is allowed to drive a billet host family vehicle, the family should verify insurance coverage for the player with their insurance agency in advance.

The breaks are dependent on the team's game schedule and usually only allows players to return to their parent's home once or twice during the season. The players will always have time off during the Christmas holidays.

Players shall not be left alone without adult supervision overnight. If a billet host family has vacation plans that will result in an overnight absence, the Billet Coordinator will place their player in temporary housing until the billet host family returns and inform the Head Coach and the Organization of the temporary change. Arrangements must be made, through the Billet Coordinator, for the player(s) to stay with another host family, a teammate, or a friend from school/work.

Occasionally players come from Canada (French) or Europe are part of the billet program. In most instances the player speaks English as a second language. The language differences are often an interesting dynamic in the player's stay with a family.

The Twin City Thunder program puts a great amount of effort into placing players in the homes of families with which they will be compatible. As a result, no problems are anticipated once the players and families have had time to adjust to one another. However, there may be times when a player and his billet family are simply not compatible by no fault of the individuals themselves. In addition, there are situations where the Billet host family's lifestyle may have an unexpected change. At those times, the billet host family simply contacts the Billet Coordinator and the Coach to plan to remove the player from their home and/or arrange a player change.