Survival Training, One-on-One, with Byron

Milo Bradley
Pro Tour Men’s Coach, Tennis Australia
AIS (Australian Institute of Sport)
Davis Cup Transitional Squad

BBBuuzzzz!  Smack!  Got another one!  Long night lying in my improvised tent, put together with some parachute line, plastic, sleeping on ground with a cover and sheet.  BBBuzzz!  Again, Smack!  Missed!  Humid, 36 Celsius during the day, little breeze - virtually nothing, most likely temperature has dropped to 25 Celsius.  Jet lagged and lying awake, I decided to focus on what I had learned on my first day of SURVIVAL School under Byron Kerns.  I guess it was either review the day or listen to the rhythm of instructor Kerns’ snoring.  Ha-ha!  It was simple: 3 days without water at best, 21 days without food, 5 fears included the fear of animals, loneliness, death, darkness, and ridicule.  The list continued to why fire was my friend and how to use it.  Well, by this time, I can openly acknowledge I had failed to recognize the value of water.  Forget the fears, still trying to work out what I would do if a bear came into my bomb- proof tent, while just the idea of my peers taking me to task anyway was enough ridicule, so I rather hack my way through the BBBuzzz all night long.  I made my fire earlier that day, yet anyone can light a fire in a dry forest.  By tomorrow, Kerns would whip me into a potential crack arsonist.  Making fire in a thrashing cyclonic rain should be no worries after tomorrow!  Well, maybe just a whipper snipper of a fire starter.  Beside Kerns is still snoring and dreaming of how his student is going to find water, much less finding patience to purify the water we do find. Day One of the SURVIVAL Evolution goes on…..

BBBuuuzzz!  Night 2.  It would not matter if I was still jet lagged, Kerns toiled with me mentally, like a fish dealing with bait.  I was hooked on every word.  Kerns simply would hook me, let out the line, than reel me in, owning every direction he desired to train my mind to the things he desired me to learn.  At this point, my mind had experienced these basic facts:

1. If you intend to go to conquer any part of the environment, you are going to find yourself on the losing end.  Learning and respecting it is incredibly important.   
2. Key ingredients of building a fire is that the ‘tinder’ and ‘squaw wood’ is not on the ground - basically above you and around you.
3. You can never drink enough water!  Map reading, compass work, and knot tying skills suddenly become also very necessary skills in learning to survive.  

Many more facts linger in my memory.  Day Two of SURVIVAL goes on…..

The following day the lessons continued.   This ‘One-on-One’ unique experience, walking through the bush and woods and forest with Kerns, is a real story and education of how ‘humans’ not just can survive in this environment, yet various other relevant discussions.

I chose this individual experience since it is the quickest way for me to learn, first hand in amongst the stress, fears, and anxiety where I learn best.  And, to be able to fail with honor and dignity.  Kerns certainly allows a person to fail with dignity, bounce back, and discover how to educate oneself with his assistance.

Several days later on my long flight back to Australia when I started to write my notes about my experience, I suddenly realized how much extra I had learned.  Every minute spent with Kerns had a lesson, story, and experience to be shared.  I had notes on some simple tips on everything from dealing with hostage situations in a foreign country, to dealing with people’s fears in different life situations.  As I progressed through the notes, it was evident that many skills mentally and physically cross over into the office environment, on the tennis court, travelling, and engaging with even our urban environments. 

Using the bush and woods and forest, working on SURVIVAL skills as a medium for other environments can only assist our awareness in having experiences that prepare us for High Performance environments, not to mention everyday life.  Developing tennis pPlayers for my Federation with the intent of hopefully that someday the players will represent their country in Davis Cup is my overall brief.  Travelling 45-48 weeks a year, from the Grand Slams thru some isolated destinations around the world may be ‘living the dream’, yet urban survival can be the background agenda.  Very seldom am I just seeing the sights.  Travelling on isolated roads in third world destinations happens very often, yet if something goes wrong, either via flight, bus, car, train, other survival skills need to kick in.  Just the potential of running out of fuel on an interconnecting road off the Interstate in North America could add stress, particularly if one is in the snow country when a blizzard hits.  I came to Byron Kern Survival School originally as an ‘out of the box’ experience for my professional development, yet came away with a lot more.

I have previously lead programs that have developed athletes that have played Davis Cup, Federation Cup, ATP Challenger, and ITF Future events and  who have won Junior Grand Slams to mention a few, without even mentioning the numerous National Championships, both team and individual, during my tenure.  In these programs, I have run ‘Boot Camp’ activities, experiences in an outdoor environment to ‘toughen’ up the athletes physically and mentally.   

Kerns achieves what I always desired, yet I previously never completely achieved.  Byron Kerns does it in a very simple professional way.  He achieves his success with a student in so many amazing ways without the student even knowing what is going on.  The experience is one worth having.  He truly has a ‘gift’.  The same survival’ skills, both mental and physical, are certainly a big part of sport today.  Everything from PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) to S.T.O.P (Stop, Think, Observe, and Plan) under pressure becomes key developmental skills to various parts of an athlete’s career, hence very transferable.  Today so many corporations, small businesses, sporting organisations live and die by the board room and all the latest research, yet I really wonder if something as simple as survival skills is ever covered, much less thought about for them and their employees.  The sports coach, manager, and athlete all need to at least experience the first evolution of survival skills!  We all will one day, under stress, go through an experience where we will need to know what we most likely should do.

Byron Kerns will assist you to experience the things you can walk away and say, "When that moment comes with anything, anytime in life, this is what I will attempt to do!"  I know I am going to walk confidently everyday looking at the trees, checking the wind, suddenly hearing Byron's voice in my ear.  "Hey Dude!  Do you think it is going to rain tonight?  Do you think we can find water over there?  Which way are we headed?"