Episode Details

Professional competitive shooter Jalise Williams joins hosts Kaylee and John for a conversation about a career built on discipline, family, and a deep love of firearms history. A Team USA representative, Jalise is a 12-time world champion with 43 national titles and more than 200 major wins, and she became the first woman in the United States to qualify for the USA Overall Team (long called the Men's Team) at the Handgun World Shoot. She traces it all back to St. George, Utah, where she grew up hunting with her father from the time she was in diapers. After her mother took a local ladies' night clinic and suggested she learn handguns, Jalise and her sister fell in love with the sport and entered the competitive circuit. Twelve years later, she is at the top of it.

She walks through what making the Overall Team actually takes: a two-year qualification across your best three of four national championships, with only the top four competitors selected. After one of the best matches of her life she slipped into the fourth spot, then went to the world championship and came home with two gold medals. Jalise shoots for Colt, where she has been on the team for seven years after a stint with Springfield Armory and a breakout single-stack season on two Colt Gold Cups. A history lover, she is proud to represent a brand so embedded in American history, and she now helps test Colt products before release. She also opens up her training: when she is home, three hours a day on the range, dry fire, a CO2 kit for simulated recoil, daily gym work, and a fundamentals block of about 100 rounds on one-inch dots at 5, 7, and 10 yards that she has run for a decade.

The back half turns to community and history. Jalise encourages women entering the sport to use social media to connect with other women shooters and to lean on resources like online classes and groups such as A Girl & A Gun and The Well Armed Woman, with Steel Challenge as a beginner-friendly first discipline. She shares her family's hunting tradition, including a South Africa hunt tied to last year's world championship and a bucket list that runs from moose to dove hunting in Argentina. Her love of history shows in her favorites, from the Single Action Army to black powder guns, and in a top-five list that includes the 1911, the 2011, and the AR-15. On the Soapbox, she gets candid about the mental side of competition, the habit of getting in her own head, and why staying willing to fail and learn is the only way to keep climbing.

Questions this episode answers

How did Jalise Williams get into competitive shooting?

She grew up hunting with her father in St. George, Utah from a very young age. After her mother got a concealed carry permit and took a local ladies' night clinic, she suggested Jalise learn handguns too, and Jalise and her sister fell in love with the sport and entered the competitive circuit twelve years ago.

What does qualifying for the USA Overall (Men's) Team actually mean?

Team USA selection runs off your best three of four national championships over two years, with only the top four competitors chosen. Jalise slipped into the fourth spot after one of the best matches of her life, then won two gold medals at the world championship, becoming the first US woman to make that team.

Why does Jalise Williams shoot for Colt?

She has been on the Colt team for seven years, after shooting Springfield Armory and then winning a national-title season with two Colt Gold Cups in single stack. A Shooting USA recommendation connected her to Colt, and she values the brand's place in American history. She now helps test Colt products before release.

How does a professional competitive shooter train?

When she is home, Jalise trains about three hours a day on the range, dry fires, and uses a CO2 kit for simulated recoil, plus daily gym work. She starts every session with fundamentals, roughly 100 rounds