They named themselves the “House of Six” —two college boys from Florida and one each from Louisiana, Kansas, Arizona and Connecticut, living together under one roof.
But it wasn’t a college dorm suite or a mix-and-match frat house. It was the home of two empty nesters in Rotterdam, Donna and Ed Shappy, who decided to play host family to six members of the Albany Dutchmen.
“I thought, our son’s grown and out of this house and … I love to have people in. I thought it would make the summer interesting and it certainly did,” said Donna Shappy. “My husband and I are in our mid-50s, so bringing six college guys into our home definitely made life different, but it was a good different.”
The Albany Dutchmen are a summer baseball league for college baseball players. The team attracts players from all around the country and matches each with a local host family to spend the summer with.
“The commitment is just to provide a home atmosphere for the boys and some meals. The team does feed them after each game but they’re going to need breakfast and lunch material,” said Denise Polsinelli, host family coordinator.
In return, each family gets free admission to Dutchmen games, can participate in Dutchmen clinics for free and is invited to “bonding” events like picnics or family fun days.
“We try to do other activities with the host families, so we bring them in as part of the Dutchmen family,” said Polsinelli.
Polsinelli said the team is still looking for about nine more host families before this season’s first pitch. Most families take one player, some take two or three, but few take on six like the Shappys.
“Five years ago, we had a house fire and lost a good part of our house and when we rebuilt it we put on some extra space. Two weeks before the guys were going to be coming I had been praying we would find a way to use these extra bedrooms,” said Shappy.
Even with extra rooms to fill, Shappy said she didn’t initially plan to extend the welcome mat to six growing college guys.
“We originally said we’d take one but (the Dutchmen) said because of where we live, if we have at least two (they) would provide a car … so we said we could take three,” said Shappy. “Then they said they had more to place … so if they don’t mind bunk style then we’ll take them and I’m glad we got to know those three guys, too.”
Steve Poche is also happy the Shappys agreed to open their home. Being far away from his hometown in Louisiana was made easier by staying with the Shappys.
“I think living with a family is a lot better. They not only help you out but when we got home, Donna would always have food. We’d get home sometimes at two in the morning and she’d have a pot of spaghetti sitting there waiting for us,” said Poche. “She’d always take care of us like that. It was just fun, it was a fun experience, a good league.”
Polsinelli said host families don’t have to spend every waking moment with their summer boarder — after all, the players are in college — but some interaction is encouraged to make the living arrangement more comfortable for everybody.
“We stress to the players this isn’t a rooming house situation, you’re actually being part of their family so to be respectful. The kids just grow as part of the family, go to family functions, if they have younger kids we stress to the players these younger kids are looking up to them and be like an older brother to them,” said Polsinelli.
Even with six young men taking over the house, Poche said the Shappys made each and every one feel like a family member.
“They made sure we had stuff to do. We got to swim and their son brought over scuba equipment. They took us out to eat, it was a good environment. … We’d play three-on-three wiffle ball or basketball in their backyard,” said Poche.
Getting to know each of her summer houseguests was the best part of the whole experience, said Shappy, and the reason she’s taking three players again this season.
“We’d talk about who they were, what their families were like, school, their interests,” said Shappy. “People could look at that it could be risky having college age kids, but I say it’s worth the risk. The relationships were the biggest thing we got out of it.”
She still keeps in touch with Poche and the rest of the players, texting or emailing to check in.
“I’m glad I got to keep in contact and keep in touch with them,” said Poche.
Anyone interested in being a host family or learning more can contact Polsinelli at 369-5093 or [email protected]. Players arrive the first week of June.
