Each year, around August, since 1961 the towns of Cambridge, Ontario in Canada and Saginaw Townships, Michigan get together and put on what they have called the Can-Amera Games. The important thing about the Can-Amera Games is not so much the events but the way the competition is structured. Each year the Can-Amera Games changes its host city. One year it is Saginaw Townships and then the next year it is Cambridge and it goes back and forth like that year after year. The games are for athletes ages 9 through 18 and the thing that makes the Can-Amera Games unique is something they call billeting. If an athlete wants to compete in the Can-Amera Games then there are some things that are mandatory for competition. The athlete must either allow their family to be a host family if their city is hosting or they must stay with a host family in the other city if the other city is hosting the games. So if an athlete from Saginaw Townships wants to compete in the games held in Cambridge then they must go and stay with a host family in Cambridge for the weekend. The process is reversed for athletes wanting to compete in the Saginaw Townships hosted games if they are from Cambridge. Athletes can choose to be hosted by a random family or athletes that develop a strong bond can request to be housed with each other’s families each year. When the athlete is hosted by a family that athlete is called a billet and the process of taking the athlete in for the weekend is called billeting.

Another mandatory aspect of the Can-Amera Games is the bus ride to the other city. Parents are not allowed to drive their athletes to the host city’s families but rather the athletes must ride the bus to the host city in order to participate. The organizing committees also prefer if the athletes ride the bus back home after the games are over as well even though the athlete’s parents will be in attendance at the competition. The bus ride is meant to also harbor good feelings between the athletes on their own team and many organizers, and athletes, feel that the bus rides to and from the host city are something the athletes look forward to and that every athlete should participate in. Parents are allowed to take their athlete home when the competition is over but the athletes are encouraged to take the bus home and parents are encouraged to allow that to happen.

The Can-Amera Games hosts over 500 athletes every year and is a huge success. Every detail is considered including health care for the athletes. Each athlete’s parents are required to submit their health insurance information to the organizing committee so that the organizing committee can arrange with a local health clinic to take care of a sick or injured athlete. That way the athlete can get care without having to show any proof of insurance and the athlete’s parents can rest easy when they send their athlete off to billeting because they know that their athlete is taken care of. The Can-Amera Games is a great idea and should be replicated all over the world. The idea of billeting being mandatory for participation helps to bridge gaps between cultures at an age when those gaps could just be beginning to form.