TRURO, N.S. — For Taylor McCafferty, winning gold meant pinning down his friend Zack Little on a rubber mat.
The pair engaged in an intensive jiu-jitsu sparring match in Truro Saturday, using chokeholds and locks in a bid to subdue each other. McCafferty and Little vied for gold in the under-145 lb category at the annual Rogue Grappling 7 – Out Cold competition.
“I feel good, it’s unfortunate I had to face a team mate, but that’s the nature of the sport,” said McCafferty. “Now that I’ve won gold, it’s just back to the drawing board, train hard for the next one.”
Little was philosophical about his loss to McCafferty, saying it was a close and hard-fought match.
“Hats off to him,” said Little.
Off the mats, both McCafferty and Little coach jiu-jitsu to students at Marmac Athletics’ Inglis St. location in Truro.
Being friends outside the club, they watch UFC fights together on TV and planned to do so again after their Jan. 18 sparring match.
Indeed, it was watching televised fights that persuaded McCafferty to take up martial arts when he was just 13.
“What got me into jiu-jitsu was watching UFC as a little kid,” said McCafferty, now 22. “I was always interested in that, the way the crowd reacted to the fighters and the respect they gave them really, really attracted me to the sport.”
While McCafferty and Little trained intensively before Rogue Grappling, all fighters must overcome the fear barrier when they step onto the sparring mats for real.
Even with solid training to fall back on, fellow Marmac fighter Connor MacKenzie felt the nerves when he sparred against Halifax-area fighters Ryan Drake and Neil McDonald.
“It’s very nerve-wracking,” said MacKenzie. “The second you step on the competition mats, it’s something completely different, you have the adrenaline dump and it’s really hard to remember your game plan.”
But Little’s remedy is simple: fighters must face their fears head on.
“The more you train, the more you compete, the less you feel it,” said Little.
For Little and his fellow fighters, respectful conduct is a key part of any training and competition. At Rogue Grappling, fighters greeted each other cordially before sparring matches and congratulated each other afterwards.
Little said “it’s ingrained [on] day one to be respectful.”
Such mutual respect can be the foundation of firm friendships off the mats.
“Jiu-jitsu’s a great place to meet people and make friends,” said Little. “I have lots of life-long friends I met through [martial arts].”
Rogue Grappling is held every January at the Nova Scotia Community College’s Truro campus.
The full results of Rogue Grappling 7 – Cold Snap will be posted at https://smoothcomp.com/en/event/3099/results.
