The 2024 Western Canadian Baseball League season is right around the corner, with the Weyburn Beavers opening up the campaign on May 24th when the Moose Jaw Miller Express come to town. In order to field the team, however, there does need to be a place for the players to stay, and the team is looking for a few more billet families.  

“We are going into the ‘24 season looking for 14 beds,” said Brittany Sparwood. She is the host family coordinator for the Beavers. “We have a 30-player roster, and we have some pretty solid families returning back to us and we have some new families on board that we are very excited to welcome.” 

For the host families, there are a number of benefits, Sparwood pointed out, above and beyond the compensation the families can receive. 

“There’s the forever lifelong friendships you make along the way,” Sparwood added. For her, some of the lifelong friendships include former catcher Marcus Blackmon. Sparwood recently returned from California, where she attended his wedding.  

The compensation package for the host families includes $350 a month per player to help cover some of the costs of an extra person in the home, as well as free entry to all 28 home games, as well as several discounts around town and at the ballpark itself.  

With the season starting on May 24th, the players will start to arrive in Weyburn around May 20th. The team is hoping to have all 30 spots for the players secured around the middle of the month, if possible.  

“There will be some stragglers,” Sparwood said. “If they’re going to the (College) World Series they might not be coming until a little bit more into June, so we do have a little leeway there, but the closer to the season start we get, the little more difficult it gets to make sure that we have everybody placed.” 

Those who are interested in being a host family for the upcoming season can contact Sparwood at (306) 897-8621, sign up on the team website at www.weyburnbeavers.com, or email the team weyburnbeaverswmbl@gmail.com.