Episode #05 - Conquering the Mat: David McWilliams' Strategy and Passion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu!

Ever wrestle with the jitters before a big event? Step into the ring with us and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor David McWilliams as we grapple with the highs, lows, and adrenaline rushes of the sport, diving into the strategies he uses to stay calm under pressure and turn tension into triumph. We'll hear about our headlocks and hair-raising encounters from previous tournaments, and you can bet you'll be just as hooked as we were with David's thrilling recollections of Jujutsu Con, plus his thoughts on the sport's trend-setters and celebrities - even the eccentric fanny pack of John Danaher gets a mention! 

Imagine adjusting your game plan mid-match because of an unexpected shoulder injury - sounds like a nightmare, doesn't it? But David does just that, and we get up close and personal with his strategies for staying focused and in control, even when things go awry. Find out how a good game plan can be your secret weapon and pick up tips on guarding your opponent's foot and avoiding point deductions. We'll also dig into how the camaraderie in Jiu-Jitsu training forms a powerhouse of team support that can give you that extra edge in the ring.

 You'll walk away from this conversation feeling inspired, educated, and ready to face any challenge that comes your way - whether on the mat, in the office, or even just in life itself. Don't miss out on this thrilling exploration into the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with David McWilliams.

Contact Host: caffeinatedjiujitsu@gmail.com

Join Caffeinated Jiu Jitsu IG Community: @Caffeinated_jiujitsu

Chapters

• 0:01 BJJ Tournaments
• 13:07 Managing Nerves in Jiu-Jitsu Competitions
• 22:28 Overcoming Tension and Nerves in Competition
• 28:31 Importance of Game Plans in Competition
• 38:03 Team Support in Jiu Jitsu
• 52:53 Caffeinated Jiu Jitsu

Transcript

Intro : 0:01

Welcome to Caffeinated Jiu Jitsu the blend of white belt enthusiasm, black belt wisdom and a dash of caffeine for that extra kick. Dive deep into the world of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as we explore the journey, techniques, challenges and the sheer joy of the sport from a white belt's perspective, from intriguing interviews with renowned coaches and professors to playful fun episodes that'll have you chuckling mid-roll. We've got it all brewed and ready. Now stepping onto the mats and into your ears, here's your host, Joe Motes.

Joe Motes: 0:53

Hello Caffeinated Combat Enthusiasts, welcome back to another episode of Kaffeinated Jiu Jitsu. I am your host, oJe Motes, and today's episode is all about BJJ Tournaments. We're calling this segment, or this episode, tournament Tales. We're going to talk about the highs and lows and the anxiety-filled moments before stepping onto the mat. But the cool thing about this episode is we have yet another guest on the podcast, and this is an extremely special guest. This is someone that I had the pleasure or should I say the challenge of competing against this past May. So welcome, David McWilliams, to the podcast.

David McWilliams: 1:50

Hey Joe, Thank you very much for having me on.

Joe Motes: 1:52

Yeah, absolutely, man glad you're here.

David McWilliams: 1:55

Yeah, I'm excited. I'm looking forward to it. It's interesting we connected on Instagram before we competed right.

Joe Motes: 2:05

That's right, that's right. So you know, the funny thing is I launched the Caffeinated Jiu Jitsu IG page way before the podcast and before I even signed up for competition. It was the Atlanta Open and so I started making all of these connections right and I recognized your name when I did sign up and knew we'd recently connected. And I think that, like the next day after we connected, I signed up and then noticed you were in my bracket and I was like wait a minute, there's no way this is, you know, the same guy. And sure enough, it was man.

David McWilliams: 2:45

Yeah, I know it's awesome.

Joe Motes: 2:47

Yeah, and then we've been communicating what like every couple of weeks since then and staying in touch, man, and that's the beauty of Jiu Jitsu, right.

David McWilliams: 2:56

Yep, absolutely. Now I know it's interesting how that stuff happens.

Joe Motes: 3:01

Yeah, absolutely so. What I'd love to do is just let's start our conversation out with you, you know, sharing a little bit about yourself, where you train out of, I know, but I'm sure the listeners want to know how long you've been training and how many competitions you have under your belt. I think you have a couple of real special ones you can share and maybe kind of highlight what some of your favorite competitions were.

David McWilliams: 3:33

So let's just start there.

David McWilliams: 3:35

Yeah, awesome. So I live just outside of Charleston, south Carolina, and I train. I train at Gracie Baja, charleston, which is conveniently about 10 minutes down the street from my place. It's nice and close. So I've had four competitions. I've another one coming up soon. The end of this month. The Charleston fall open is coming up, so I'll be doing that one as my fifth. I would have to say for sure, my favorite event so far was jujitsu con. It's just, you know, it's just a massive event. I think it's. I think it's the biggest jujitsu event in the world every year. It's what I've been told. Wouldn't surprise me from what I saw there, and it was just wild. I mean, I think you may have seen some of the stuff I posted on Instagram, but you know I met John Danaher and Buschea and Nicholas Maringalli, and you know there were probably dozens more guys like that who I didn't happen to bump into. But I know we're there. You know, I mean I was kind of hoping to meet Roger Gracie, but no such luck.

Joe Motes: 5:02

Well, it sounds like you did pretty good with the ones you named. I am a huge Puchetcha fan, huge.

David McWilliams: 5:10

Yeah, he's awesome. He's a big guy too.

Joe Motes: 5:13

Yeah, yeah, and that's the thing Everybody that meets the I guess you could say the celebrities in the sport, right? And they say the same thing. They're all like, yeah, they're cool guys. You know, I heard that John Danaher he has no problem taking pictures with people. I mean, they have to know if they go to an event like Jujutsu-Con, people are going to go crazy. I mean, these guys' faces are everywhere, right?

David McWilliams: 5:37

Right. They all seemed like they were fully expecting and planning to take pictures with people. I mean, when you know, that's what I did, I got a picture with each of them and I was not. You know, that's essentially all they were doing, at least at that time. So, yeah, it was cool. You know, they were all very gracious.

Joe Motes: 6:02

Right, right. And you know one thing I want to know. I'm not going to ask him because I don't think I have the balls to ask him, but you know what's the story with the Fanny Pack with John Danaher man? I'll tell you, it's a signature. I thought about wearing one just because he was bringing it back and making it look cool.

Intro : 6:21

Yeah, I know.

David McWilliams: 6:23

There's got to be a story there right, there has to be. I'm sure. Yeah, I don't know what, he's got an extra rash guard in there or something.

Joe Motes: 6:30

Yeah.

David McWilliams: 6:31

I have no idea what he's keeping with them at all times, but he had it on when I saw him.

Joe Motes: 6:35

Yeah, exactly, he has it on everywhere. So I have another Jiu Jitsu buddy that I met kind of through Network and actually through LinkedIn lady by the name of Sarah Wells, and she's a talent acquisition recruiting director or VP, I think. Actually I think she's a VP now and she's, you know, she's like you, she's a competition junkie and she sent me a video this past weekend. Well, at first she sent me a text and she was like I'm 15 feet from John Donahue and I was like whatever you know. I was like you know, you're not, and I forgot the ADCC. The ADCC was this the trials were in New Jersey, oh. And sure enough, she sends me this picture where, or this quick video where you can tell she's trying to hide that she's fangirling out.

Intro : 7:28

Yeah.

Joe Motes: 7:29

Yeah, it was him and he had it on there, yeah.

David McWilliams: 7:33

So yeah, I think he sleeps in that thing.

Joe Motes: 7:36

Oh yeah, and then the Jiu Jitsu con man. I was, yeah, so from Alliance Roswell where. I train out of. We had a crew that went. So my professor Rodrigo, he competed, his girlfriend Rachel competed. Then we had we had one of our blue belts. Actually, I think we had two of our blue belts compete.

David McWilliams: 8:04

Very nice.

Joe Motes: 8:05

And but besides that, just the experience alone. I mean, there were like 10,000 registered fighters for Worlds this year. And I don't know if that 10,000 included the Jiu Jitsu or the Jiu Jitsu con competitors. I would imagine it did.

David McWilliams: 8:22

Right, but gosh Right and I guess probably. So that that's the entire event together. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, I think what I heard when I was there was that this one was the biggest they've ever had.

Joe Motes: 8:41

Yeah, can you imagine next year I mean really, if it's continuing to grow, next year I'm going, I'm there next year. Oh you know, hopefully I'll be a blue belt and I can actually compete if the professor gives me a green light. But we'll see. How many times did you fight in Jiu Jitsu con? It had to be more than once, right? I think it was like a few times.

David McWilliams: 9:03

Yes, it was three.

Joe Motes: 9:05

Three. Yeah, yeah I would imagine it was a big bracket, yeah.

David McWilliams: 9:10

You know, you know how the our middle-aged white belt bracket.

Joe Motes: 9:18

Yeah, it's not, it's not.

David McWilliams: 9:21

I think there was eight of us.

Joe Motes: 9:24

Oh wow, Out of all those people.

David McWilliams: 9:26

Yep, and, funny enough, that's the deepest bracket I've competed in so far.

Joe Motes: 9:34

It's usually what one or two, if that right, it's usually one right.

David McWilliams: 9:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like Atlanta was the two of us right. The Charleston Open before that was, I think there was three.

Intro : 9:50

Yeah, yeah.

David McWilliams: 9:52

And.

Joe Motes: 9:52

I thought you did pants too right. That's how you do pants, yeah, and even pants was only six of us.

David McWilliams: 9:57

Really yeah. But you know what's crazy I bumped, I was chitchatting, the guy in the elevator at Jiu Jitsu con and he's same age, same weight, but a blue belt. Ah, how many were in it.

Intro : 10:18

They have 45 people in their bracket.

David McWilliams: 10:20

Yeah, if you go up to a belt level, you notice just way more people.

Joe Motes: 10:25

Yeah, that's it has to be, because I was wondering that. I was wondering okay, is this our age, Is this our weight? Like what? What is it Right? But my professor said the same thing no, it's your belt level. He said if you go into, blue, you're going to have a ton of people. You'll never just be one or one on one.

David McWilliams: 10:40

You're right, exactly, and that you know. I guess, when you sort of think that you know we're combining one of the higher age groups with the lowest belt level, right, you're going to have probably the fewest people, because you know most people as they're going up in age, have you know advanced?

Joe Motes: 11:01

The white belt.

David McWilliams: 11:02

Progress in, yeah, in levels and gotten promoted and stuff like that.

Joe Motes: 11:06

So, unless you know, unless you started at our age, which most people don't- yeah, yeah, they're not crazy, right, and that's what I, that's what I I think that's what I'm hearing you say is you know, most, most people aren't insane and start at 42. Right Cause, I was 42 when I started. How old were you, 42? 43 because you're about to be 44 right.

David McWilliams: 11:28

I am 44.

Joe Motes: 11:29

You're 44. Okay, yeah, so I turn 44 in December. Okay, yeah, so. Yeah, so we're pretty. I think we're the same. I think we're still in the same division, or class.

Intro : 11:41

You know it was a division.

Joe Motes: 11:42

right, masters three. Yeah, I don't think we go up until 25 or not 2545.

David McWilliams: 11:50

I think so that's right. Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

Joe Motes: 11:54

Let's be like another year. Let's kind of pivot a little bit and let's talk what got you Well, actually I stopped pivoting, let's go right into all for this. What got you into Jiu Jitsu?

David McWilliams: 12:04

You know, it's something I thought about for a long time. I dated a girl 10 years ago who was a blue belt at the time. She's a brown belt now, and actually I bumped into her at Jiu Jitsu Con.

Joe Motes: 12:23

Oh, wow.

David McWilliams: 12:24

Yeah, yeah, we have always remained on very good terms.

David McWilliams: 12:30

So it was nice to see her and she was there coaching and I asked her if she was going to compete and she said she'd won Worlds at Brown Belt the last three years in a row. So she's waiting until she gets her Black Belt to compete at Worlds again. So it's kind of impressive. I didn't realize she had done quite that well, but anyway. So she was a blue belt at the time and she's very into it and I kind of got me thinking about it and I thought about it for a long time. You know, listening to Jocko Willink and Joe Rogan and things like that, that kind of stuff had me considering it for a long time and I just never pulled the trigger on it. So I wasn't sure.

David McWilliams: 13:23

I think this is how it can be for a lot of people. You know something about the idea of you know Jiu Jitsu is a very intimate thing really. You know, despite the fact that you're fighting, you know I mean you're wrestling around, you know you're sweating and whatever. And I just wasn't sure if I was going to be comfortable doing that with other people Really. So I just hesitated and hesitated and I had done a little boxing and I was really into boxing for a while. So that kind of took priority and finally, I just actually think the last thing that got me to pull the trigger was somehow on.

David McWilliams: 14:13

I found myself on YouTube watching a video of spacing on his name. You know what, if I said it is a UFC guy his name's Arden, my time doesn't matter. He's a, you know, a Jiu Jitsu specialist and he's very kind of nerdy looking. He's not your typical UFC guy, he's not jacked, he very much looks like a dork. And there was this video on YouTube and it wasn't from UFC, this was someone's cell phone video that they took where he was at a restaurant and a drunk guy was being belligerent and was trying to start a fight and he they were trying to get the guy to leave him alone and he wouldn't.

David McWilliams: 15:09

So eventually, you know the Jiu Jitsu player he just kind of took him down and controlled him and his female friend was asking him you know, please, please, don't hurt him. I don't want to see him get hurt or anything. And he was looking at her with a perfectly calm expression on his face I mean, he probably looked more calm than I do right now and he was just saying oh, don't worry, I'm not going to hurt him. And this is in the middle of a fight. And you know, I just kind of realized that if that dork can do that, you know, remain that calm and relaxed. And it's, you know, I got to learn it. I literally called and made an appointment for trial class. Five minutes later, yeah, that's amazing.

Joe Motes: 16:04

Thank you for sharing. I always love to hear people's story, even so, this past week, so when we record, or when I record podcasts, sometimes that I record them a week before they go out, right, and so this week I've actually recorded to, and the other person that I had on was someone from my or our Academy in Roswell and, you know, shared his story as well, and it's completely different from yours and mine's completely different, and it's really really cool to hear all of the different ways For me it was a complete accident, like my son Cam was doing.

Joe Motes: 16:44

We signed him up for a contract and then you know all I have kids are right Like maybe three weeks into it he's like, yeah, I want to go back. Great, we just signed to see your contract.

Intro : 16:56

It's like you know, I'm going to honor the contract.

Joe Motes: 16:57

You know kind of set the example. I'll go try it. I did combatives in the military. You know it can't be, worse than that man.

Joe Motes: 17:06

I'll tell you, in my first class and I was competing in power like I was a powerlifting competition at the time. You know I was 206 pounds Definitely wasn't that when you and I competed and I went in there thinking, yeah, I'm going to. You know I'm an old guy, but you know I'm a powerlifter and I remember they let you roll like if you felt like rolling the first day like you could they let me roll that. I'll take that back as a second day, but either way it was very early in it.

Joe Motes: 17:37

And you could only roll with yeah, you could only roll with the professor, right, if you were under a lot, because you know he's going to take care of you. Well, I go in there and I start trying to throw this guy around and I'm giving it everything I have. You know, just in that calmness that you just talked about, as a matter of fact, I looked down and I was trying to pass, as what I know now is his guard. He's just watching the other people roll and making corrections and telling them what they did. It's almost like he's not even paying attention to me. He's not that way. He's not. He's so not worried about me.

Joe Motes: 18:12

Right and I'm sitting here just burning all of my, and then, of course, I gas out and he guillotines me, right. So I literally laid on him, laden his arms, almost so. But no, but from there right, I became, I'll tell you, by my third class. I was obsessed, I was, I was like, yeah, this is what I want. You know. Over time I've even, I've become even more. You know the health benefits for me, both physical and mental. I I've lost 30 since that first time I stepped on the mat. I think I've lost like 35 pounds.

Intro : 18:52

Like it's crazy, right, but yeah, and then mentally.

Joe Motes: 18:55

you know I have PTSD from my time in the military. It helps even with that anxiety.

David McWilliams: 19:01

So yeah, I can imagine it yeah.

Joe Motes: 19:02

It's amazing.

David McWilliams: 19:06

Although you know it's hard to explain. You know people ask why do you know? What do you like about it? Yeah, I hope you have plenty of time to talk. It's not a quick answer.

Joe Motes: 19:18

Oh, yeah, yeah, everybody knows the minute I start talking about Jiu-Jitsu either you're going to be bored or fascinated, because we're going to have a conversation around it. So so, let's, let's talk some more competition. So this is a tournament tales type episode. You said you had five. I think you said five right, five competitions. Or with, like my fifth coming up. Fifth coming up, that's right in Charleston. I guess some of that.

Intro : 19:45

Yeah.

Joe Motes: 19:46

So, so the biggest thing so we have. So we have a lot of people going to Atlanta Open myself.

David McWilliams: 19:52

We have several.

Joe Motes: 19:53

Our academy is mostly white belts.

Joe Motes: 19:55

We're probably 80% white belts which is really cool because you get to train and and you don't have to go and get smashed every single class you know right. But one of the things the top number one thing that's coming up in the conversation is like man, I hope my nerves don't get me Right and, look, I'm going to tell you right now. We're going to talk about our fight towards here here in a bit, but I didn't feel nervous until he told us to you know, whatever command that is, I can't remember what it is.

David McWilliams: 20:27

Oh yeah, and I really like to direct you onto the map.

Joe Motes: 20:30

Well, no, when we, when we, I was fine there, and then when we faced each other and he told us to go, you know the start oh man right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The minute I reached up and grabbed your lapel, I was, I froze, I was like what? Every nerve I had came rushing in right.

David McWilliams: 20:51

And everything went like like yeah.

Joe Motes: 20:54

Right.

Intro : 20:55

Right.

Joe Motes: 20:57

Especially, especially knowing what was coming. So it's so nerves right. So how? Let's talk about nerves right when? How do you manage that? And is it getting better the more you compete? Is it the same as it getting worse, like?

David McWilliams: 21:17

what are some things you do to manage that?

David McWilliams: 21:20

Yeah, I think it is getting better and you know I think kind of hard it's a little hard to explain I also, you know, I'm not sure that I've really figured out a particularly effective way to calm myself. The biggest thing that I've done is sort of you know, I've been doing this for a long time. I've been doing this for a long time. I've taken a lesson that I learned from boxing. And have you ever done any boxing? No, never. Yeah, I haven't done that much.

David McWilliams: 21:59

But you know, I and I'm this might even be a stretch, but I would say at best I might be the equivalent of like a low level blue belt in boxing. I'm not, I'm not a very seasoned boxer, but one thing in boxing I have, I, I'm always, I would always be tense in my shoulders, especially sparring. You know it's one thing if you're doing mitts or hitting the bag or something like that. Even then I still would have a lot of tension. But sparring I was very tense and you know that was a big issue.

David McWilliams: 22:43

My coach was always trying to get me to relax and I was trying to figure out how to relax. You know, because you tense up when you don't realize it. You know you don't realize it's happening and it's. It exhausts you faster if you're holding that tension and it's just. You know that's not as good for your technique and things Anyway. So I had to figure out how I was going to. You know I was going to. You know I was going to you know. You know it's crazy Sometimes you know you're about to engage in a fist fight and you know, and your coach says you know, don't forget to relax.

David McWilliams: 23:19

You know, relax, just like completely counterintuitive, you know, and usually I'm getting in a fist fight with somebody who's a lot better than me.

David McWilliams: 23:28

So I had to kind of figure out a way to do that and I figured that being aware of my, my breath and my breathing and being mindful of it, sort of keeping it at a slower rate as much as possible, you know, taking deep breaths whenever necessary, but then also just trying to keep my entire body relaxed, so even like even my, my face, my cheeks, specifically, you know, making sure I wasn't clenching my jaw, keeping my neck relaxed, letting my my arms kind of dangle, and things like that I found were helpful, and I've really just kind of transferred that to to Jiu Jitsu and competition and also, you know, I also remind myself that you know this is something that I'm doing for fun. You know the stakes aren't that high, you know. You know, if I ever have to fight Gordon Ryan, you know, but you know it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's not. You know, I'm not a professional grappler or anything and it's. You know, if I lose it's not a big deal. I mean, I don't want to lose, I do want to win.

David McWilliams: 25:00

But you know, I just kind of try to remind myself that you know this. This is something that's for fun.

Joe Motes: 25:05

Yeah, I think that's a great, a great point and that's actually so going into. So, going into, you know, my first competition, I just wasn't nervous going into it so much like it. Besides, right before we actually started going, I was more on. This is a learning experience and I am going to win or lose. I'm going to, you know, get something, get something out of this. So for me, you know, I think you brought up some great points. I dealt with nerves going into our competition. Yeah, I didn't really have them until, you know, we started, but I remember driving to the, to the convention center, and you know we fought. What were we? The third match from the last match of the day.

David McWilliams: 26:10

Like we had to wait forever dude. It was crazy We'd sit around for so long.

Joe Motes: 26:14

Oh my God, it was crazy, and that makes it worse, right.

David McWilliams: 26:17

Oh what? Because we just have all this time to think about it.

Joe Motes: 26:19

And then for me it made it worse. So I will say this it did make it worse because I knew who you were and, right, like you're, you're kind of watching a little bit like oh man, you know this guy's kind of jacked, you know, and you started thinking about all these things. But anyway, but right, what I thought about when, what helped me with my nerves, is like, you know, this is a no-stake really game for me. I am only going to grow, my jiu-jitsu is only going to get better from this Win or lose. And I think you made a great point when you said this is something that that kind of we asked for, we do for fun, right, we pay monthly fees to go and do this and we pay for these competitions and these, these geese and all of these things. This is our, you know our passion, our hobbies. So I think, yeah, and even going into Atlanta, open this time, I can tell you already feel a lot less of of of those nerves.

Intro : 27:16

Now, this time I'm going to win right.

Joe Motes: 27:19

I don't want it to be a learning experience. Right, I'm going in with a little bit more of a winner's mindset, but I think if, if anyone who is thinking about competing and listening to this the biggest thing that you can do is that, first off, make the commitment and decision to compete because at the end of the day, at the end of the competition, you're going to walk away really knowing where you're at from a jujitsu standpoint your techniques are going to make more sense to you when or lose, it's you know.

Joe Motes: 27:52

I think that is is one of the biggest things that can help with nerves.

David McWilliams: 27:56

For sure, and you realize real fast that, well, you know, I can't, can't speak for everyone's experience. Maybe it depends exactly on where you're training. You know some, some places are a lot more hardcore than others. Right, you know, genuine MMA guys are are training there, or something like that. But I know for myself and I've heard other people say the same thing is that competition is really like the first of the, the only time that you realize, like, what the real fight is about. Because when somebody grabs your G in competition, it's different than than training.

David McWilliams: 28:41

Oh yeah 100%, you know, because everything you do in a competition you mean it.

Joe Motes: 28:47

Oh, yeah, yeah Right.

David McWilliams: 28:49

So you realize like, oh damn, you know, I thought, you know I thought I was rolling hard in training and you know this guy, you know it's like a bobcat.

Joe Motes: 28:58

Yeah.

David McWilliams: 29:00

It's different.

Joe Motes: 29:00

Yeah, 100%. And you know, I don't know if you guys have this at Gracie Baja, but we have competition classes at Alliance and I'm sure y'all do right, yep, and you think that, oh my God, that was hard, you're exhausted. I was like, yeah, that's a little bit different, but 100% right, and in that match you're going to defeat. Your purpose is to defeat the other person Right, either by points or submission. Everybody you know they say I don't care if it's points or submission, everybody knows that they want to submit, right, everybody. You know very few get in the mountain, just kind of stay there right, right, and then get off and go back. So no, everybody tries to submit. And I think the biggest thing, one of the biggest fears for me going into my first one was, like man, I hope I don't, you know, get my foot broke or my arm broke.

David McWilliams: 29:54

Yeah.

Joe Motes: 29:55

You know I was anticipating a choke. We'll talk about that coming up, but you know I never knew. You know, maybe, hey, maybe he's working on a flying Camora or something, who knows? I mean this guy's training at Gracie. He could really have anything up his sleeve.

Intro : 30:11

Right.

Joe Motes: 30:13

But no, so let's talk a little bit. Just you know, I actually I think this episode is going to go longer than all of our other ones, and that's great. So we hear so much as white belts, especially white belts that want to compete, and I think the same probably for blue belts, at least until you get some stripes on your blue belt. But the importance of having a game plan and visualizing what you're going to do in competition and then training. That way Now I know for a lot of people you can train and have all. Mike Tyson one time said everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face, right.

Joe Motes: 30:58

And that's kind of kind of a little bit about how I felt my first competition. But my question is you know one, do you feel it's important to have a game plan? And in your competitions you know how. Do you feel your game plan works for you? Do you feel like it goes out the window? Do you feel like you know, joe, maybe maybe I hit 20% of my game plan and then I have to adapt? Talk a little bit about that.

David McWilliams: 31:29

Yeah, I do think it's important, you know it's also, I've been, I have been told by my instructors. You know that it's important and I in my first competition was pans, I'm not sure if it was an issue then but my the Charleston Open and the Atlanta Open, definitely I was nursing a shoulder injury and I could pull pretty painlessly and at full strength but I really couldn't push the same. The same way I didn't have the strength and it just, you know, just kind of the pain was pretty bad and yeah, I couldn't do push ups, just no strength and very painful. So that really sort of determined my, my game plan for at least a couple of my competitions. Because I was talking to my instructors I thought you know my idea was I should probably pull guard because you know, for my, for the sake of my shoulder, the better to be in guard. And they said that's absolutely what you should do and so sorry, my dog sees somebody at the door.

David McWilliams: 33:06

I've had, I have had quite a bit of luck with things going to game, you know, the game plan going well in some of my competitions and I've not definitely had others where I mean my last match at Gigi to con, it didn't go to plan at all. Right, nothing, nothing went the way that I was hoping it was. It was a, it was a close match is good. Actually, I think I would say the my most favorite match that I've had so far, despite losing. But it didn't go the way I planned at all. I mean, from the moment that you know like we both tried to pull guard and he, he, he did it, maybe half a second or less before I did, and because I went down after him, I don't think he even thought he was going to steal two points, but he did, because he sat up, he like touched my leg and then got into my guard and they gave him credit for a takedown.

Joe Motes: 34:22

Oh yeah.

David McWilliams: 34:22

Yeah, I mean, before the fight it was even started, I was down to points, you know. So that's definitely not what I had planned.

Joe Motes: 34:30

Yeah, yeah, I've you know, really quick one thing that comes to. I did not know this. So and I'm a guard puller to right If, if somebody pulls guard on you but you grab their foot and you move it to the outside of your hip and they go back and their back hits the floor while you're holding that foot, you get the two points.

David McWilliams: 34:56

Had no clue about that, I don't think you even need to move their foot at all.

Joe Motes: 35:03

You just hold it, you just really.

David McWilliams: 35:05

Yeah, yeah, I did not know that Right. That's why that's dangerous, right, yeah? Well, that's why it's important that when you pull guard, the foot you put on their hip is on the same side, that you're holding their sleeves, not their collar not their collar. Yeah, right, so that way. I mean I'm sure there there probably are ways to, but essentially that that way you prevent them from grabbing your foot.

Joe Motes: 35:30

Yep, and you better be holding it high too, not not on their sleeve, because they can move that sleeve your hand holding their sleeve down.

David McWilliams: 35:38

Yeah, exactly, but all they have to do is is like grab your leg and, despite the fact that you are completely voluntarily pulling guard because they've got a foot on your leg, that's take down for them.

Joe Motes: 35:50

That's crazy yeah.

David McWilliams: 35:51

And that he didn't even do this guy in my competition, you know, and not it's not a knock on him, he just he didn't have the chance Like he. He pulled guard and then I pulled guard and then he just sat up into my guard and boom, he's up two points. Wow, and the difference in the score was two points, Two points.

Joe Motes: 36:12

Yeah, yeah, that's a hard one. I you know, before our, our match I had been working just a ton of lasso right Just a ton and you know I had this game plan and I knew that I needed to pull guard before.

David McWilliams: 36:32

Right Because.

Joe Motes: 36:33

I you know, look, I'm not going to lie and you know I did this. I watched your videos, right? Yeah, I knew your past two competitions you were, except you did this one collar drag, I think, on a guy in one of your fights, but everything else you had pulled guard and I didn't know you were. You had a shoulder injury and that was kind of the. I just thought you were like me and crazy guard puller.

David McWilliams: 36:55

Right, I mean I probably I very well may have planned to pull guard anyway.

Joe Motes: 37:00

Yeah.

David McWilliams: 37:01

But you know, the shoulder injury solidified at 100% yeah.

Joe Motes: 37:05

Yeah, I had a plan, but you know it didn't quite go. You know the way that I had hoped. But before, like I said, I know I've been teasing this to the audience, but one last topic.

Joe Motes: 37:24

Before we go into that, let's talk about, like, the camaraderie at events. You know, you and I right, when I got there I noticed you, you know, came up, introduced myself, fist bump, and then you know, you're sitting with your, your Gracie team, I'm hanging out with my Alliance team, but everybody else and all the other teams are interacting. I mean, there's a good vibe there, right?

David McWilliams: 37:49

Yes, yeah, and I do think it really brings you closer to your teammates. You know when you're at a competition with them. You know I'm. I think I get at least as nervous for my teammates matches as I do for my own.

David McWilliams: 38:11

And you know it's crazy and you know it's awesome. Whether you know it's it's awesome to see them do it it's, you know it's even better to see them win. Obviously, you know, and it's, it's cool. I don't want to sound the wrong way, not like I hope it doesn't come off as like an arrogant thing, it's more of just, it's so flattering For sure.

David McWilliams: 38:38

Well, my, my first competition was pans, but I was there alone. But the next competition was, I think was, the Charleston Open. So, you know, all of my, a ton of my teammates were there. You know that's our local competition and it's really nice to see how excited your teammates get for you. Right, you know it's very flattering To I even, you know it's like. You know, I was like so moved by it. I was like watching the video later that night and I wasn't even watching the match, I was like zooming in on my teammates watching it. It was just so nice to see how excited they were. Right, you know, and and it's it's reciprocal for sure, you know it's just, I don't know, there's just something sort of that's hard to put your finger on, hard to describe, but you know, especially most, if not all, of them are, you know they're working extremely hard.

David McWilliams: 39:54

Oh yeah, you know, in preparation, you know, so it's, it's, I don't know, it's, it's a very definitely, I think Use the word camaraderie. That's, it's definitely. It builds that for sure.

Joe Motes: 40:09

Oh yeah, absolutely, and it's just, you know, it just carries over from, you know, from our training centers, our academies and schools, and you know, what I found is another reason I'd love to go to do Jiu Jitsu con, because you have, you know, thousands of practitioners and schools and everybody says the same thing. That people kind of hang out with their, with their crew, right, but at the same time, everybody is there and engaging in the military.

Joe Motes: 40:39

We had this term of spree to core Right, and then there's a lot of that. That goes on, yeah, so yeah, it's, the community is a big thing and you just, I think it's, it's a huge attract, attractor into into the sport, right, and yes it's good to hear, hear you talk about it.

Joe Motes: 41:04

So so here we go, let's, let's talk about our match from from each of our perspectives, and I'm the host, I'll go first. So you know I talked about and, just just so everyone knows, I put David to sleep in five seconds, just kidding, no, it's. So one of my goals going, the only goal I had, the absolute only goal had, is the goal that I told my wife, my friends, my professor, everybody, remember I told you that I wanted to just use it as a learning experience. I didn't have any expectation. The only expectation I had was not to lose fast. Yeah Well, so for our listeners, what was it? 25 seconds, 40 seconds, what was it?

David McWilliams: 41:57

Yeah, I think it was right in the ballpark of about 30 seconds 30 seconds, less than a minute, less than a minute.

Joe Motes: 42:04

And worse, worse, it was a cross collar choke from David's full guard. I had never, ever and all the times that I had been training and rolling and sparring and I've been submitted a ton, but I had never, that I could recall, been submitted by a cross collar choke and guard. Okay, and here's, here's the thing, here's what makes it even worse. I mean, I've never shared this with you. Is that the Friday before the competition? No, I'm sorry, the Wednesday before the competition. At Wednesday's class, guess what? We worked preventing the cross choke from full guard. I kid you not. Kid you not. And and and here's the thing, here's my perspective.

Joe Motes: 42:56

So we go, I grab your lapel, we grab sleeves, I froze, right, I noticeably froze. I don't know if you caught it, but I know I caught it. My professor caught it. I knew your guard pool was coming and I knew I needed to pull guard and put you in lasso. Right, I like it mentally. I knew it, but I didn't do it right.

Joe Motes: 43:19

So when I get into the full guard, right, I knew you had the first grip deep. I think you had that hand damn near behind my, my, my scalp. I mean it was deep right and instead of controlling your arm, your other arm, what we had worked that whole week. That Wednesday I'm sitting here trying to open your guard the whole time and I know you're going to share your perspective here in a moment. But I could imagine you lay in there thinking, is this guy seriously not going to block this arm? And because I noticed you, you you waited a minute right and then it just kind of came up and I knew once, once you had that, hey, I don't even think you put the second grip in far, if I remember, and obviously I've thought about this a lot, but yeah, it was, it was over. It was over in seconds when David the second hand.

David McWilliams: 44:21

I don't think, you know, I was kind of the first instant I was, I second guessed it a little bit because you know, with the cross collar took the second hand. I guess people do it different ways. You know, some people put there the second hand also inside the lapel. Yeah, which is not the way that I typically do it. I do the second hand on your shoulder, shoulder, your neck right, and, and ideally what you want to do right is is almost like karate, chop their neck right.

David McWilliams: 45:03

Obviously not real hard or anything, but you want to, you kind of want to do that so that you know that. You know the pinky side of your second hand is against their neck and that's where you grab their collar Right. Um, and I didn't feel like I really got my second hand against your neck. So when I started I was, I felt like it was good, not great, you know. So I in the first instant I wasn't exactly sure if it was really going to pan out or not. Um, but you know, I think once I started going with it, I I felt pretty good about it.

Joe Motes: 45:40

Yeah, I'll tell you, I thought that that I could, I could break that, that the right hand. But then you hit to the side while you were still in closed guard and brought I think, I think it created space to your side and I've been a listeners like what the hell are these guys talking about? But, I think it. I think it created space to your side that you brought me down on. Yeah, and there was, I couldn't posture up, I couldn't, and yeah, that was it.

David McWilliams: 46:06

So, um, I but, yeah, that um, rewinding a little bit to one of the things that you said is how, you know, I didn't, I didn't really put the second hand up immediately and, um, you know, that's a kind of a thing that I've I've learned is especially at the white belt level. Um, a lot of guys, don't you know? They don't worry about even a deep collar grip. If you're, if you're sort of, uh, you know you're acting like you're not really doing anything with it, right?

Joe Motes: 46:48

Kind of hiding it. Hiding your tail so to speak yeah.

David McWilliams: 46:53

Yes, exactly yeah, and you know I usually I just want to see is he going to defend it? Yeah, is he going to block?

Joe Motes: 47:04

the arm right. Is he going to Right?

David McWilliams: 47:07

And you know, if he's not worried, as long as he doesn't think I'm trying to sweep him or break his posture or something like that like, I'll just get that.

Intro : 47:16

Yeah.

David McWilliams: 47:16

And kind of just act like you know, I've got your collar, but you know, but I don't know what I'm going to do with it, or you know, I'm just kind of here and then I just kind of want to stop the second hand on as quickly as possible.

Joe Motes: 47:29

Yeah, yeah, and I think you know, if you, I think here in that that had to be some part of at least the last few seconds of art few seconds our whole match was. You know, I could absolutely tell that because I didn't give any indication, you know, trapping the arm or even. You know I was fully focused on opening the guard, right.

Intro : 47:54

Yeah.

Joe Motes: 47:54

Because I was going to. You know, I go on because I think I'm going to kind of try to use it maybe this next time. But it's you know it was. Yeah, it was. It was a learning experience. That's exactly what I said I wanted to do. I just didn't want to have to learn it so fast. I had to sit there for like seven hours, man. And first confidence like God.

David McWilliams: 48:18

I didn't even what?

Joe Motes: 48:20

And then?

David McWilliams: 48:20

you had to drive home.

Joe Motes: 48:22

I know you drove home the next day, right, right, right. Yeah, you had to come down here fight this guy for 30 seconds for a gold medal.

David McWilliams: 48:30

Yeah, it's such a bummer and I remember, as we were walking off the mat, you said to me I was hoping it would last a little longer than that.

Joe Motes: 48:43

Oh yeah.

David McWilliams: 48:44

And you know we both got a good laugh out of it. I got to give you credit, you know, for you know taking it in stride.

Joe Motes: 48:51

Oh, yeah, yeah, 100%.

David McWilliams: 48:52

I? Yeah, that's been my thing as well. It's funny that you said that your real goal was not to lose fast, because I kind of said the same thing. And you know one, my biggest, like I guess fear of competing. I've had some instances where I've gotten in training, I've gotten claustrophobic when someone is in the mount on me and they lay on my face.

Joe Motes: 49:31

Oh yeah, try that mother's milk. They call it right.

David McWilliams: 49:34

Yeah.

Joe Motes: 49:35

Where they try to smother you with the ghee and get you to tap yeah, exactly, yeah.

David McWilliams: 49:40

And. But you know it's not enough to really that I should have to tap as far as my breathing. But unfortunately, you know I hate that, I'm kind of embarrassed about it actually, but I've tapped a couple times when I really didn't have to but just out of the claustrophobia and I've been very paranoid that especially. I didn't want it to be the first impression that you know friends of mine and all my teammates you know would be at the Charleston Open and the first thing that they would see of me is, you know, just like tapping out to mount, when you know I really didn't have something like that.

Joe Motes: 50:28

Yeah, Like to some kind of side pressure or something like what would just happen Exactly? If you're going to tap, you want it to be a locked in submission, like if I don't tap, something bad is going to happen, right yeah?

David McWilliams: 50:40

Yeah.

Joe Motes: 50:42

I think that that could be a legitimate fear. I would hear, I would say that. So our professor and I've tapped to that plenty of time our professor is a. He's a monster, right? He's over six foot tall, he's like he fights it ultra heavy. And you know he's 15 year, black belt, I mean this guy's big. So when we roll with him right and when he has to get his training in.

Joe Motes: 51:05

He goes a little hard sometimes and, yeah, you feel that. But of course, the good thing I like about IBJJF is you're. You know you're fighting your age group, you're fighting your weight class. So hopefully, if we do get in those situations, we can add a bare minimum, try to shuck them off a little bit. So but I mean, yeah, if you get, if you get a 215 pound guy, we're sitting here at like 190, 190, if I'm hit, yeah, at 30 something pounds or 20 something pounds, you feel it and um, yeah.

Joe Motes: 51:34

And once they get high on you, you only have a few options, and a lot of times those aren't available.

David McWilliams: 51:39

So right.

Joe Motes: 51:41

Right, yeah, well, man, thank you so much uh for uh coming on and and you know, I'm really appreciating the friendship that we're we're developing through through seeing each other in competitions and keeping in touch with each other. Uh, I couldn't ask for, at least for me, a better uh competitor to go against for my first time Are are you going to be in Atlanta in November or have you decided?

David McWilliams: 52:08

No, I don't think so so move.

Joe Motes: 52:10

thank God, no, no, that's good, so you got stuff going on.

David McWilliams: 52:16

I would love to, but I don't think I'm going to be able to make that one.

Joe Motes: 52:18

Okay, well, um, when's, when's, charlotte? Uh, that's uh, charleston uh, yeah.

David McWilliams: 52:25

Yeah, the end of the 28th of this month of October, all right.

Joe Motes: 52:29

Well, yeah, I'll definitely, I'll definitely be watching.

David McWilliams: 52:33

Well, thank you very much. Uh, joe, thanks for having me on. It's been very cool experience, um, and I appreciate all the time works it's, it's very mutual. It's been cool. You know to sort of uh, you know, the way we've gotten to know each other is sort of unorthodox, but it's been awesome.

Joe Motes: 52:50

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think my coach, uh, my professor, he was like y'all talk to each other. He's like, yeah, man, we, we talk all the time. He was like I think he thought it was probably a little weird, but uh, you know, he's one of those competitor Jiu Jitsu guys.

Joe Motes: 53:06

So, all right, man. Well, uh, and so that's it everyone. That's the end of this episode. I want to thank David for coming on and just remember everyone to stay grounded, stay caffeinated, and let's roll through this journey together and we'll see you on the next episode.

Intro : 53:22

And that's the final tap on today's episode of caffeinated.

Intro : 53:26

Jiu Jitsu. A big thanks to all of our listeners, especially today's insightful guest, for sharing their BJJ knowledge and tales. If you felt that adrenaline rush and are hungry for more, hit, subscribe, drop a review and spread the Jiu Jitsu buzz. For show notes and to contact the host, reach out to the email provided in the podcast description and to join our grappling community, head over to Instagram. Get those geese, crisp your coffee strong and always be prepared for the next episode of the Jiu Jitsu. Jiu Jitsu, jiu Jitsu.