Getting to Know...Jedidiah Wolke
Softball: The Next Generation Is Jedidiah Wolke, 21
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.
It is not overstating to say that Jed found his gay family when he first laced up his cleats for his first ever gay softball games in the Fall of 2022. It was for a team called “Aye, No” in the Greater Los Angeles Softball Association (GLASA). Before then, he assumed the only gay people who played sports were the anomalies one hears about when they publicly come out. He never dreamed there were entire leagues by and for the community.
Perhaps that’s because he grew up in a religious family in a tiny town called Thornton, Illinois, and attended private religious schools. But he was always athletic. He played baseball and ran track and field. Though he knew he was gay, he always assumed he was the exception.
But then Jed moved away from there and figured California’s the place he ought to be, so he loaded up his truck and moved to … Buena Park. (Actually, he flew, but if you like The Beverly Hillbillies, you get it).
After arriving in Southern California, in a tale as old as time… when cruising around on a dating app, Jed met a couple of guys who played softball. Then, a whole new world opened up for him.
“It was very eye-opening,” Wolke said. “I knew nothing about the gay world, and then suddenly I’m in this whole softball community.” Now, three years later, it’s a community that he’s embraced, and that’s embraced him.
Wolke has now played almost six seasons, first in GLASA and then later with Surf and Sun Softball when his D Division team The Replacements decided to play a little closer to home. Although he hasn’t yet earned the right to play in the Gay Softball World Series, Wolke has played in about a dozen regional tournaments already.
He says the shared experiences of games and tournaments really mean a lot. “I meet people who I can talk to and who understand everything that I’ve gone through. We can relate to each other.”
In fact, Wolke credits meeting his boyfriend to a tournament in Southern California, the San Diego Autumn Classic. “We first met there in October, and then again at the Sin City Classic a few months later.” Soon a relationship blossomed and Wolke moved to Austin to be with his new boo, where he now lives, works, and plays softball on a newly formed team hilariously called “Austin Powers” with Softball Austin.
Although a D player the last few years, Wolke’s skills have steadily improved, and he’s planning on moving up to C soon and expanding his skill.
But for him, the competition that is softball takes a back seat to the community that is softball.
Here he has found a space where he is accepted for who he is and what he can do, not for who he is attracted to.
“I grew up in an environment where being gay wasn’t accepted,” Wolke said.
“I kept my feelings locked inside, and I judged other gay people — even though I was gay myself. But then I found gay softball and that helped me lose that judgement and accept myself.”
To him, being a part of this community means everything. “I know I have people who can relate to me, and who can relate to my problems, maybe even more than my family [back home] can.
“I found my gay family and I know they will back me up.”