One of the most active and best Czech grapplers, SWAG Brno representative Petr Mynář, evaluates his performance at the ADCC Trials in a short interview. Find out what his gameplan was for each match, or what things he needs to work on in the future.

Peter, you've completed the ADCC Trials. What mindset and gameplan did you have going into your first match?

For the first match, I went in with the classic pre-fight nerves, but the plan was to pull into ashi as soon as possible and capitalize on any opportunity to finish. And it worked out.

What followed after the first match?

Afterward, I watched the match from which my next opponent emerged. A young Englishman won, after being positionally dominated for about 4 minutes, he managed to finish his opponent with an inside heel hook. So, the plan with him was to initiate exchanges on the feet, where I believed I would be more successful, and it worked out.

Then came Tom Maenrum...

Yes, Tom had a very successful run last year at all ADCC European Opens and also won the Trixel Invitation tournament in England. I knew he had good leg locks from 50/50 and even better armbars/triangles from K-guard, so based on my skillset, very poor passing, and relatively good leg lock game, I chose the path of the leg lock shootout, where I saw a greater chance of winning, but it didn't work out, and after less than two minutes, I was caught with my own favorite technique.

What do you need to improve on in the future, and what are your plans now?

There's so much I want to improve on. I plan to further improve my leg lock game, backtake, and connect more leg locks with back control. I also want to focus on guard passing, which leads to defensive reactions where the opponent exposes their back. For example, Langaker won both the previous and these Trials this way. So, it's really hard to decide where to start and where to devote more attention and training time, but I've been experimenting with connecting leg locks and back takes for the past few weeks, while also testing new elements of guard passing, so I'll probably be focusing on this topic for a while.

As for other tournaments, I plan to compete in as many tournaments as possible until summer. Whether it's tournaments in Poland, ADCC, TATAMY, or Grappling RIVALS.