Day 2 - Endurance Fitness and Dallas Cowboys Stadium Tour

Another fantastic day in Dallas started with the usual 6am get up for 7am fitness session.

The fitness session was split into 2 parts -  the first was positioning on corner kicks. The whole group learnt a lot from Barry Gee during this session, including lots of prevantative man management techniques.

The 2nd session was an endurance session which consisted of walks, jogs, 3/4 pace and sprints across the pitch. This was repeated 6 times and was very difficult, but the whole group managed to pass the test.

At 10am it was followed by the usual Chubbys breakfast ... of which i had a breakfast wrap and pancakes ... fair to say i was stuffed!

We then made our way to the Crowne Plaza hotel which is the hub for the Dallas Cup organizers. We met Andy Swift at the hotel, who is the tournament executive director. We also met Gordon Jago, who was the previous executive director. Gordon has had a very colourful career, playing for Charlton and Fulham, but also managing QPR and Millwall. He was an inspiration to us match officials and it was a pleasure to meet him.

Next stop was the Dallas Cowboys Stadium...

I have NEVER seen anything like it in my entire life ... Wembley is made to look small compared to this stadium. It has state of the art facilities, including a closing roof, the largest TV in the world and over 100,000 seats. We went on a tour of the stadium, where we sat in executive seats, went into the cheerleader and Dallas Cowboys changing rooms and other fascinating areas. It truly was a tour to remember, as I will never experience a stadium like that again for sure.

Onto the evening, Jack and I went bacl to our homestay and went out for a Tex-Mex meal. We ate at "Marianos" which is a local resturaunt with food to die for. I opened my taste buds a little by trying Guacamole (not too keen!!) and salsa sauces which was very good. Fajitas was for the main course, and ice cream and a doughnut like dish was for dessert. Many thanks to the Toler family for taking us out for our tea.

So now we are back and relaxed at the Tolers, having an early night. I have so many pictures from the experiences today, which i will put onto Facebook when i return home... but another fantastic day at Dallas.

Role on Day 3!!!

Mike B