Getting to Know...Jaguer Romero
Softball: The Next Generation Is Jaguer Romero, 27
For the past two months we have shared with you the stories of our leagues in Memphis (BCSA) and the Twin Cities (TCGSL). Next month we will continue that series. However, throughout the month of June, as we celebrate Pride Month, we’re doing something a little different. Instead of featuring a league in a specific city, this month we are going to be sharing with you the stories of some of our exciting younger players from around North America. These players, all of whom are under 30 and who have fallen in love with their softball community, have unique-yet-familiar stories to tell about how they came to queer and inclusive softball, and what it’s meant to them. We believe many of you will be able to relate to their stories and hopefully you’ll come away with hope and confidence that the future of our community is in good hands.
Jaguer (pron: Jagger) Romero is in love with queer softball. Just talk to him, and you’ll hear what I mean. If you do, you’ll also learn that it was pretty much love at first sight. That was about nine years ago, and since then, he has progressed up the ranks from C, to B, to now A in iPride Softball. He is a founding member of Dream Skittles, along with good friends Dillon Arceneaux and coach Josh Cherry.
But to understand how he got here, you have to kind of start at the beginning.
Jaguer was 17, using drugs and, in his words, “Runnin’ around and getting into trouble.”
But his sister was playing softball in a local USSSA (U-Trip) league in their hometown of Lafayette, LA, and she made a deal with him. “She said I had to put down the drugs before she could put me on a roster. So I did.”
About a month later, a friend and neighbor of his, Delanie Granger, found out that Jaguer was playing ball and enjoying it. So she invited him to come with her to play in New Orleans, about 2.5 hours east of Lafayette, with the NOLA Softball League (NSL), the queer league in the city.
“Coming from the deep south, it never occurred to me that there were gay sports of any kind,” Jaguer said.
Granger was playing on a team called the Southern Belles, at the time coached by Trent Pike. Whether it was his charm or his skill, Jaguer was welcomed pretty much instantly.
He didn’t know exactly what to expect with a gay softball league, and he now admits to feeling a naive sense of superiority.
“I am ashamed to say that growing up I had this ego about me, that I was a better kind of gay person,” Jaguer said. “I put up a wall.” It was that wall that prevented him from really connecting to people and letting them see who he really was.
“Here you just hear horrible things about the gay community, and I didn’t want to be a part of what folks thought gay people did,” he said.
“But I got an education when I experienced the people inside of queer softball. Boy, did that humble me real quick,” he said.
When he saw how skilled the players were, and how much fun they were having, it broke those negative stereotypes he had grown up hearing about. “You see all these gay athletes playing at a high level, and I wanted to be a part of it.”
Jaguer started in C, but to hear him tell it, he wasn’t very good. After all, he had only started playing a month before with his sister. “Before then, I’d never picked up a bat or glove,” he said. “I was garbage.”
But he had a desire to be better, to do better, and it’s safe to say he was bitten by the same familiar softball bug that’s bitten anyone who is reading this.
Since Jaguer is active on social media, back then his feed was filled with stories about going to the park and shagging fly balls, and working on footwork until the sun went down. He would talk about hitting and defense, but above all he put in the work.
And the work paid off. In 2021 his team, Skittles United, stood on the podium at the Gay Softball World Series (GSWS) in Columbus as the C Division Champions.
Knowing they’d have to move up to the B Division after that, Jaguer went and watched some upper-level games. “That lit a fire,” he said. He would begin the journey of working even harder.
Two years later, in 2023 in Minneapolis, a slightly different version of his team, now called the Dream Skittles, once again stood on the championship platform at the GSWS, this time as B Division Champions.
Now in A, the Dream Skittles continue to improve and Jaguer is with them every step of the way.
But there’s a parallel between Jaguer’s improvement on the field and his improvement as a person, that maybe he himself doesn’t realize. The more he’s been exposed to the community, the more he’s traveled the country, and the more he’s grown comfortable in his own skin.
“There’s such a huge community out there, I just didn’t know it,” Jaguer said. “But once I found queer softball, it changed my life. I met people who were dealing with the same thing, the same experiences that I had, dealing with being Queer.
With that exposure has come acceptance. “Now I’m proud of who I am. I’m not ashamed to be around other gay people. Everyone lifts me up.”
But Jaguer’s queer softball education hasn’t been just about the game or how to be comfortable in his own skin. Prior to joining the league, he’d never traveled outside his home state.
“I had no idea what big cities looked like outside of a social studies book,” he said. But now he’s been to Vegas, Chicago, L.A., Austin, Salt Lake, Dallas, Birmingham, Tampa, Atlanta, Houston, Columbus, and Ft. Lauderdale. “I’ve been so impressed with the skyscrapers, the infrastructure, everything.
“This league has had a huge impact on my life. It’s given me access to different people and different opportunities, not just to compete with their teams but to experience their cultures.”
Now that he has experienced championships, and the camaraderie and confidence sports can instill, Jaguer is passionate about giving it back. Four years ago, at age 23, he started coaching kids in Little League and club leagues around the Lafayette area.
While it’s a lot of work, Jaguer says he’s the one being rewarded. “The best part about it is seeing how the kids start and how they progress through the season. Watching them improve, there’s no better high.”
For him, it’s personal. “I didn’t have anyone to throw a ball with when I was a kid. But people gave me opportunities who didn’t have to, and it’s important for me to give back. I feel like I owe it.”
When Jaguer looks back on his experiences with queer softball, he is clear about what it has meant for him. “If it hadn’t been for this league, I would probably still be doing drugs,” he said.
“I basically traded addictions. Here I am, all these years later still sober. I’ve met thousands of people through the organization. I know that if I ever have rough times, help is just a phone call away.”
Two of those people who he knows will always be there, he calls “My Gay mom and Dad.” That’s Josh Cherry, his coach and teammate, and Paul, Josh’s husband, who have taken Jaguer under their wings.
But Jaguer’s not the only one. There are three straight men who are part of the Dream Skittles team, and they’ve made a big impact, Jaguer says. Part of that is because of the culture that Josh and Paul have built.
“Our straight players have really embraced iPride,” Jaguer said. “It’s truly remarkable to see such a shift. They are now choosing iPride over USSSA, which speaks volumes.”
Even though Jaguer has had the kind of success players throughout North America can only dream about, he’s not stopping any time soon. It’s too important to him personally.