Almost every summer in recent years, the Kotels have gained a new family member — a Windy City Thunderbolts player – and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s an amazing experience,” said Jen Kotel, who lives in Alsip with her husband, Jim, and 12-year-old son, Max. “If it were up to me and we had more room at our house, I would host as many players as I could.”
Her son plays soccer, so she knows what gets invested in playing sports.
“I know how expensive it is to play. I’ve had these guys tell me ‘If it wasn’t for host families, I wouldn’t be able to play’ because they wouldn’t be able to afford it. So I love knowing I’m helping these guys follow their dreams and play a sport they love. I hope my son will go on to play and find a nice host family like us.”
The Windy City Thunderbolts, a minor league team that plays its home games in Crestwood, is looking for host families to open their doors to players. The team typically has 25 players on its roster, and it hopes to find homes for 15 of them, explained Johnny Sole, director of community relations. The rest stay in a player apartment, except for the few who live locally.
Host families are not a new thing.
“Our team has been going since the late 1990s and early 2000s, and they always do host families. I got here in 2017 but I took the whole program over from our general manager at the time. It’s been going on as long as there’s been a team,” Sole said. “All across minor league baseball it’s a thing, us included.”
Sole said the team tries to make good matches between players and host families, using a questionnaire that lists the home’s layout, makeup of the family and if there are pets. He, manager Tom Carcione and general manager Mike VerSchave work on player housing arrangements, and staff members visit the homes. The only requirement is players must have their own bedroom and some space to store belongings. Families aren’t required to provide anything beyond that, although some share meals with players.
The first home game is May 7 and the last regular season game is Sept. 6. Players typically arrive in late April. In return for hosting players, families get some perks: free season tickets, discounts at the merchandise store and free food and nonalcoholic beverages, Sole said. The Thunderbolts also host a preseason dinner for the team, staff and host families and an outing at the end of the season.
“We are extremely grateful to have them. It certainly takes an effort for people to house the individuals,” he said. “They’re considered part of our family, a major part of what we’re doing. It’s hard to run things on a minor league baseball level without their generosity and assistance.”
Interested families can apply on the team’s website, wcthunderbolts.com, reach out to Sole via email at jsole@wcthunderbolts.com or call the office at 708-489-2255.
“We’ll start talking to them now, immediately, but the players start getting matched with families at the end of April or early May,” Sole said. “If there’s an interest, we’d start conversing with them.”
The Kotels became interested in hosting a player after attending a Thunderbolts game when Max was 4 and he “had a blast” at the family friendly place.
“At the time I had my own marketing agency, so it’s a habit for me to go on their websites. That’s what I did and I stumbled upon a host family thing,” Jen Kotel said. “My son would always tell us for Christmas that he wanted an older brother, so I found a workaround.”
They became a host family a year later, in 2019, for player Christian Morris, and Max adored him.
“It was the perfect age when we started doing this. He literally followed Christian everywhere. And it was good because Christian came from the minor leagues, so he really helped me understand the importance of host families and the good and bad of it,” she said. “I got to see how these guys appreciated host families.”
She said the players are good role models for her young athlete.
“It’s great because it’s taught him responsibility,” Kotel said. “To see these guys get up and do a routine and get through their days is good for him to learn. It’s the gym, how they eat. We’ve had a couple go through that liked to have a good time, but they still made it up for work.”
Getting attached to players can sometimes bring heartache. “We had one year where a lot of players were getting released (from the team) so we ended up having three or four players that summer,” Kotel said. “When a player gets released, they try to set you up with another player.”
The reality of professional sports was a bit surprising for the Kotels, especially one summer that involved player injuries and bad performance. “You always say every player is replaceable. That was a shock because we actually had the players that were leaving. It was hard on us and hard on Max because he gets really attached,” she said.
One player they became close to got released in the middle of the season. “I was very upset. They’re in their 20s but I’m in my 50s, so I’m old enough to be their mom,” Kotel shared. “When they get cut, we have to mentally prepare. We love Carsen (Plumadore) but just because he’s coming back this year doesn’t mean he’s going to stay.”
Kotel said one way she tries to make them comfortable in her home is asking in advance what they like to do after a game. “That was my biggest one. If you lose, do you like to be left alone? … Most of them are fine and say ‘We leave the game’ at the field,’ and there were some by the time they got home, we were already sleeping.”
She’s never had a problem with a player – “All the guys on the team are nice” – and she encourages them to give their parents her phone number in case they need to reach out. “I like knowing that the parents know they’re in good hands here.”
Hosting Plumadore, 24, for a second year means Max not only gains a brother but also a sister because the player’s wife, Avery, a schoolteacher, often visits from their home in Flowery Branch, Georgia.
Plumadore, who played baseball in high school and at Georgia Southwest State University, is in his second year pitching with the Thunderbolts and said he lucked out staying with the Kotels.
“They are just so hospitable. I honestly never expected them to grab me food and things like that,” he shared. “They made me feel at home. I would do things with Max on my off days. Obviously, my wife would be there with me (sometimes) and they were cool about that.”
Plumadore enjoys having a second family during the season. “I get to sleep in a comfy bed. And they come to every single game,” he said, adding that he’s grateful they “are super awesome” to his wife. “We’re very at home in their house.”
During the offseason, Plumadore, who has an MBA, gets a sales job or works as a substitute teacher at the same school where his wife and mother both teach. He also started Empire Pitching Academy and coaches 15 to 20 boys, some in high school, and works to get them recruited.
He kept in touch with the Kotels all year.
“I’ll text them on holidays, their birthdays. I’ll send them something from down here. Eventually, they’ll come down here to visit,” he shared. “I’m just looking forward to seeing everybody again. I love being with my team. I’m excited to see Jen and Jim and Max. I think we’re going to win a lot of games.”
Sole hopes area residents will sign up to be a host family and emphasized that it’s far more than just providing a place to sleep. “You develop a bond with the player trying to achieve their dream. You’re able to have them be part of your family for that amount of time, and the bond continues even after the season,” he said, adding that a player can help fill a void.
“If they’re a couple without children in the house or if there is a family with a kid, it’s an older brother mentality for some of these (players). It’s a bond and a way to fill that. You’re part of what we’re doing and you get to be a special part of our group and a special part of their lives and vice versa.”
Melinda Moore is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
