Being a Billet Mom: Welcoming ‘Oly’ into our home
Teena Monteleone is CKBI’s morning show host and paNOW’s director of information programming. She is the mom of two young boys, who “adopted” two more when she began billeting during the 2015-16 Raider season.
My family decided to billet Prince Albert Raiders as a way to give back to the community. We are hockey enthusiasts with two young boys and had seen the positive interactions our friends had experienced as billets. Travis and Melanie Willie, for example, welcomed Raiders Captain Tim Vanstone into their home for his entire WHL career. They celebrated his successes and supported him through his struggles over five years. He is, and always will be, a part of their family and a mentor to their children.
Enter Kolten Olynek; a forward the Raiders had acquired from the Spokane Chiefs. He was 19-years-old and had a full beard. The first thing I did was crack a joke about how he could call me “Mom.” To that, he stared, offered a sympathetic laugh and carried on his conversation with my husband. Having been in billet homes before, Kolten was used to adapting to new surroundings and new people, but he was quiet…really quiet. So, you can imagine our surprise when we discovered he doesn’t stop flapping his gums the entire time he’s on the ice. He chirps other players, he chirps referees and he’s very vocal with his teammates.
“On the ice, I have to play bigger because I am not a big guy,” he explained. “One way for me to do that is to agitate other people and get under their skin. I’m not gonna run over everyone at 5’7”…so I have to use my mouth.”