Home away from home: An examination of the billet family experience in junior ice hockey

Abstract

North American junior ice hockey is well known for its long-standing practice of housing players with billet families as they pursue aspirations of elite careers. However, little is known regarding billet families and their influence on youth athletes, particularly in junior ice hockey. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how former players’, their parents’, and their billet family function as a triad in this context. Twenty-one participants composed of 7 triads (former player, billet parent, parent of player) were included. A qualitative approach was employed and semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data within and across triads, offering a unique systems-level perspective of the themes and subthemes that explained perceptions of how members of the billet family experience functioned as a triad in this context. Themes included complementary dynamic interpersonal attitudes and behaviors (subthemes: shared values, effective communication, understanding the importance of player space, and complementary motives), development of a “good fit” is key, and absence of a tenant mentality (subthemes: shared engagement and being a part of the family). Upon reviewing the structural relationships between the themes and subthemes, results support the idea that without the complementary dynamic interpersonal attitudes and behaviors leading to a good fit, and the absence of a tenant mentality reinforcing that good fit, the overall positive junior ice hockey experience among triad members may not have occurred.

 Lay summary: Perceptions of how members of the billet family experience (former players, parents, billet parents) functioned as a triad in junior ice hockey were explored. Interviews with twenty-one participants composed of 7 separate triads revealed how participants functioned together as one unit, or system and the relational attitudes and behaviors that occurred to promote a positive billet family experience.