By Jason Goorman
LocalSportsJournal.com
There is no place like home.
Dorothy from Wizard of Oz said that on the silver screen decades ago and it still rings true today.
But what if you’re a hockey player for the Muskegon Lumberjacks and your home is thousands of miles away? Well, in that case, you inherit a billet family.
A billet family is a sports term that originated to describe families who provide housing and support to student-athletes who are playing for a team that is far away from home.
With 28 players on the Lumberjacks’ active roster who are literally from around the world, each one needs a place to live while competing on the ice for Muskegon. One can’t expect a Lumberjacks defenseman like Olle Karlssn, who is from Nacka, Sweden, to kiss his mother on the cheek goodbye and fly across the ocean to the rink each day.
These prospective Division 1 college athletes and future NHL prospects need a place to call their home away from home and they need adults in their lives to give them the consistency a proper home base brings.
Muskegon natives Joe and Cindy Mahan have opened up their homes to dozens of Lumberjacks over these many seasons. Homes is plural because the happily married duo has been billetting for so long, they have even moved into a new home.
During the Mahan’s 15 seasons, which is how long the USHL franchise has been in Muskegon, they have opened their doors to dozens of Lumberjacks hockey players.
They have had seasons where they hosted up to four Lumberjacks players.
“I was a Muskegon Heights cop and there was a Heights fireman who took pictures for the (Muskego) Fury and he was telling me about the switch over from pro to juniors and he was talking about billeting and they were looking for billet families,” said Joe. “So, ‘I said let me talk to Cindy’ and I went home that evening and we talked about it.
“We originally just wanted to be a backup and I was working one day and Cindy called me and said that she got a phone call from a Carter Foguth and she said he’s going to be living with us this season. He lived with us for three seasons.”
One thing is for sure, whether it is one player or four, these top-tiered athletes can put down the food.
Joe and Cindy know good cooking, but they leave the dishes up to the boys. They also take the boys out to eat once a week. Parents need breaks from kitchen duty once in a while too.
“I’ll fix dinner, you guys clean up afterward, you guys do the dishes, put stuff away, you do that and then once a week we go out for dinner,” said Joe. “I don’t have to cook, you don’t have to do dishes.”
The players of the USHL are not like average kids of today’s world and the Mahans know it.
“They all really want to go pro,” said Cindy. “It’s hard to be realistic, but it’s like go for it, you’re here, you’ve got the opportunity, go for it, do whatever you need to do, but know that you’re also working for a scholarship.”
Some kids keep to themselves and others open up. One thing that Joe and Cindy make sure of is that each player understands how much they care about them on and off the ice and they also keep them honest by emphasizing how important it is to respect rules and boundaries.
“For the most part, I tell them they are going to have fun here whether they want to or not,” said Joe. “If something goes wrong here, it’s your fault. If Cindy tells me the garbage didn’t get taken out, it’s because they didn’t want to take it out. We want this to be a place for them to relax, have fun, but there is responsibility to clean, and they do a good job.
“They are good about wanting to be part of the family. They are treated like part of the family,” said Joe. “If I have to go some place, you’re coming with. If we have a family function, they go with us.”
The love the Mahans have for the players they host, who they clearly consider their own kids, has grown into life-long friendships. During their interview with Local Sports Journal, Joe had to answer a phone call from one of their “kids.” While we can’t drop names out of respect for privacy, the last name of the caller was a recognizable NHL last name. The call was to give Joe an update about a new stage in life.
“This one kid was from Sweden and he got home sick. I offered to take him to IKEA so he felt like he was more at home,” joked Joe, who clearly knows how to get his kids to know they are going to be ok.
Probably the best compliment the Mahans could have ever gotten was from one of the boys who said when he was with them, he felt like he was at home.
That deep connection the Mahans are able to make as billet parents comes from a broad understanding of who people are. Their former professions definitely helped set them up as successful and caring Billets. Joe is a retired Muskegon Heights policeman and Cindy retired from Community Mental Health. Their past work lives have led them to understand different personalities and it helps them connect at genuine levels with their kids.
While every kid comes from diverse backgrounds, they each have an intense desire to win. Some have a harder time with losing more than winning.
“They can have a hard time when they lose if it puts an end to the season, but the day-to-day stuff, especially goalies, they have to have short memories,” said Cindy. “Some hate to lose more than they like to win, but they all see it as a reason to work harder. They take the blame, goalies take it that way.”
The USHL season can be long, similar to winters in Michigan. Add in a deep run into the Clark Cup Playoffs and it makes it even longer. How long the season goes doesn’t matter to the Mahans.
What matters is these extremely special student/athletes get to experience something as close to home as possible. This is important to the Mahans because players go through ups and downs, including when their season is cut short.
“When you look at how long they’re here, they’re with us more than their actual parents,” said Joe. “One dad called me aside, he said, ‘I want to thank you, my son, I sent him here 3 years ago and he came home different.’ Granted we don’t have that impact on everybody, he spent more time sleeping in our house than his own for 3 years.”
No matter what the case is, if the Lumberjacks win a Clark Cup, or if a player is traded, the Mahans will be celebrating their kids’ success on and off the ice for as long as they can live to tell the story.
LocalSportsJournal.com
There is no place like home.
Dorothy from Wizard of Oz said that on the silver screen decades ago and it still rings true today.
But what if you’re a hockey player for the Muskegon Lumberjacks and your home is thousands of miles away? Well, in that case, you inherit a billet family.
A billet family is a sports term that originated to describe families who provide housing and support to student-athletes who are playing for a team that is far away from home.
With 28 players on the Lumberjacks’ active roster who are literally from around the world, each one needs a place to live while competing on the ice for Muskegon. One can’t expect a Lumberjacks defenseman like Olle Karlssn, who is from Nacka, Sweden, to kiss his mother on the cheek goodbye and fly across the ocean to the rink each day.
These prospective Division 1 college athletes and future NHL prospects need a place to call their home away from home and they need adults in their lives to give them the consistency a proper home base brings.
Muskegon natives Joe and Cindy Mahan have opened up their homes to dozens of Lumberjacks over these many seasons. Homes is plural because the happily married duo has been billetting for so long, they have even moved into a new home.
During the Mahan’s 15 seasons, which is how long the USHL franchise has been in Muskegon, they have opened their doors to dozens of Lumberjacks hockey players.
They have had seasons where they hosted up to four Lumberjacks players.
“I was a Muskegon Heights cop and there was a Heights fireman who took pictures for the (Muskego) Fury and he was telling me about the switch over from pro to juniors and he was talking about billeting and they were looking for billet families,” said Joe. “So, ‘I said let me talk to Cindy’ and I went home that evening and we talked about it.
“We originally just wanted to be a backup and I was working one day and Cindy called me and said that she got a phone call from a Carter Foguth and she said he’s going to be living with us this season. He lived with us for three seasons.”
One thing is for sure, whether it is one player or four, these top-tiered athletes can put down the food.
Joe and Cindy know good cooking, but they leave the dishes up to the boys. They also take the boys out to eat once a week. Parents need breaks from kitchen duty once in a while too.
“I’ll fix dinner, you guys clean up afterward, you guys do the dishes, put stuff away, you do that and then once a week we go out for dinner,” said Joe. “I don’t have to cook, you don’t have to do dishes.”
The players of the USHL are not like average kids of today’s world and the Mahans know it.
“They all really want to go pro,” said Cindy. “It’s hard to be realistic, but it’s like go for it, you’re here, you’ve got the opportunity, go for it, do whatever you need to do, but know that you’re also working for a scholarship.”
Some kids keep to themselves and others open up. One thing that Joe and Cindy make sure of is that each player understands how much they care about them on and off the ice and they also keep them honest by emphasizing how important it is to respect rules and boundaries.
“For the most part, I tell them they are going to have fun here whether they want to or not,” said Joe. “If something goes wrong here, it’s your fault. If Cindy tells me the garbage didn’t get taken out, it’s because they didn’t want to take it out. We want this to be a place for them to relax, have fun, but there is responsibility to clean, and they do a good job.
“They are good about wanting to be part of the family. They are treated like part of the family,” said Joe. “If I have to go some place, you’re coming with. If we have a family function, they go with us.”
The love the Mahans have for the players they host, who they clearly consider their own kids, has grown into life-long friendships. During their interview with Local Sports Journal, Joe had to answer a phone call from one of their “kids.” While we can’t drop names out of respect for privacy, the last name of the caller was a recognizable NHL last name. The call was to give Joe an update about a new stage in life.
“This one kid was from Sweden and he got home sick. I offered to take him to IKEA so he felt like he was more at home,” joked Joe, who clearly knows how to get his kids to know they are going to be ok.
Probably the best compliment the Mahans could have ever gotten was from one of the boys who said when he was with them, he felt like he was at home.
That deep connection the Mahans are able to make as billet parents comes from a broad understanding of who people are. Their former professions definitely helped set them up as successful and caring Billets. Joe is a retired Muskegon Heights policeman and Cindy retired from Community Mental Health. Their past work lives have led them to understand different personalities and it helps them connect at genuine levels with their kids.
While every kid comes from diverse backgrounds, they each have an intense desire to win. Some have a harder time with losing more than winning.
“They can have a hard time when they lose if it puts an end to the season, but the day-to-day stuff, especially goalies, they have to have short memories,” said Cindy. “Some hate to lose more than they like to win, but they all see it as a reason to work harder. They take the blame, goalies take it that way.”
The USHL season can be long, similar to winters in Michigan. Add in a deep run into the Clark Cup Playoffs and it makes it even longer. How long the season goes doesn’t matter to the Mahans.
What matters is these extremely special student/athletes get to experience something as close to home as possible. This is important to the Mahans because players go through ups and downs, including when their season is cut short.
“When you look at how long they’re here, they’re with us more than their actual parents,” said Joe. “One dad called me aside, he said, ‘I want to thank you, my son, I sent him here 3 years ago and he came home different.’ Granted we don’t have that impact on everybody, he spent more time sleeping in our house than his own for 3 years.”
No matter what the case is, if the Lumberjacks win a Clark Cup, or if a player is traded, the Mahans will be celebrating their kids’ success on and off the ice for as long as they can live to tell the story.
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