On the latest audio edition of “Listen in With KNN ” hosted by award-winning FOX Sports Radio reporter Kelsey Nicole Nelson speaks with special guest Yolanda Jenkins, the founder and CEO of Women Major League Kickball. Jenkins also serves on WMLK’s board of directors.
To begin the show, Nelson and Jenkins connected on how the game of kickball and how it was embedded in their lives when they were young. Building off the impact of the sport in their childhood, Nelson asked Jenkins about what led her to want to grow the sport of kickball.
“We played kickball when we were younger, in elementary school. It was the bomb! After 9/11 happened, I actually volunteered to be a contractor for the United States MWR [Morale, Welfare, and Recreation] and became the director for all the troops in Iraq. I was responsible for over 300,000 troops,” she said.
Jenkins shared how she had kickball tournaments in the military to help with troops’ mental health. “I did tournaments, I worked with the USO and I made sure that their morale was sufficient for the international zone that we had. It was a war zone and we had to make sure their mental health was together,” she said.
Jenkins also talked about how impactful kickball is in Atlanta and how she started her kickball league there from her inspiration through her time with the military. “I started my kickball league in 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia and it grew so fast. Atlanta has so many women’s kickball leagues,” she said.
Jenkins also shared how other places like Washington D.C., Charlotte, Florida, and St. Louis that are riddled with kickball leagues for women.
Reflecting back to the start of the league, Nelson asked Jenkins how she managed to host 32 co-ed and 20 competitive women’s teams during COVID-19 the height of the pandemic in 2020.
“During the pandemic is really where we gained most of our success. Everybody was stuck in the house but wanted to get out and still play the game that they loved. So, I just got to my creative mode while I was over in Iraq and overcame many challenges to pave the way safely in order to play the game that we love on a competitive level,” she said.
WMLK is an initiative aimed at empowering women in sports in the world of kickball. Being that Jenkins is the first ever woman to own a women’s kickball league, Nelson asked her how she feels about being one of the trailblazers in sports along with co-founder, Ayana Sample.“It feels amazing, just because a lot of women look up to the fact that I was brave enough to accomplish it even during a pandemic. Me and Ayana built this from the ground up, and actually played kickball. But she broke both of her wrists sliding into home [plate]. But we still wanted to give these women a space for them to be comfortable,” she said.
Nelson continued the conversation diving deeper into the TNSTP American Kickball League. Jenkins discussed the kickball tournament that she hosted in Panama City, Panama. “The Panama City Tournament was amazing and it was the first time ever that a kickball organization took an all star team to compete internationally with another kickball organization that plays the style of kickball like the United States. It was really competitive,” she said.
As for what’s next, Nelson and Jenkins talk about what fans should expect and how to watch. “WMLK is one of our biggest projects right now and we are trying to kick that off in the summer of 2025. As for our tournament, we will be kicking that off in Philadelphia,” she said
To watch, check out the Roku and Firestick channel, which you can get through their app. You can aldo go to TNS.TV, to watch. Fans can also get tickets through the league’s website here.
