Day 3 - Homeless Volunteer Service and Referee evening

As you may have already guessed by now, each morning consists of a physical training regime, commencing at 7am.

Todays fitness session was again split into 2 parts - the first about how to manage attacking free kicks. The 2nd session was a speed agility session, where we were required to run at different paces, sprinting in short bursts and changing direction rapidly, very similar to how we would referee a game.

It is important to note that today we trained with the Australian match officials here in Dallas, it was a pleasure to meet and train with them.

After the training, we went on to visit "The Bridge" which is a food centre for the homeless of Dallas. All the Dallaa Cup team volunteered in preparing meals and serving the homeless with drinks for a 45 minute period. During that time we served 700 meals to homeless people, which was a terrific effort. I cant explain how much of an eye opener this experience was, and how appreciative the people were in the time we took out to help them.

Many of the customers asked me questions about where i am from, why i am in Dallas etc... once they knew we were from England and were match officials they were very impressed!

This experience made me realise how lucky we are and how we take for granted what we actually have. I felt a sence of acheivement by giving something back to the community.

Next stop was to visit SMU elementary school, conducting a Q and A session with 80 children. The kids seemed really interested in us and what we do. Many of the children asked me and others for our autographs, along with "Selfies" with them. It was nice to again give something back to the community.

Onto the evening, Jack and I had it easy as everyone was coming to our house to have a informal discussion led by Steve Dunn (ex premier league referee) about numerous issues in our game. The topics covered were communication, persistant offenders and positioning in open play. It was a fantastic session where we all got involved, and the ideas and thoughts i took from the evening are second to none.

Another long day today, full of new experiences which i will long remember.

This Dallas trip is quickly becoming one of the highlights of my life.

Lets see what tomorrow has to bring!!!

Mike B.