Day 8: August 10th

Well rested and ready to go!  The kids have 2 training sessions scheduled for today, as they have not had a training session since Thursday, and have not played since the Manchester games on Friday.  Busy week ahead though, with matches scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for our group.

Today's schedule includes training 10am-12pm, again 2-3:30pm, and then a trip over to visit the AMEX: Brighton & Hove Albion's American Express Community Stadium.  In addition to visiting the pro shop for more souvenirs, the kids will receive a tour of the stadium.

We visited the pro shop first as they were due to close at 5pm.  From that point on, all you could see was blue and white in our group - so many jerseys!  Most had their own name and number printed on the back.

The Brighton tour guides were great, so friendly and accommodating.  We broke into smaller groups (4) and they escorted us around the various areas of the stadium - lower level stands, luxury boxes, conference areas, upper level stands, press room, and even the home and away locker rooms.  At the end the kids were allowed to walk out the player's tunnel and sit in the bench areas.  The only place we couldn't go was on the actual field itself.  The tour ran for about an hour.

Yes, even the coaches took a selfie...

Dinner in the dining hall tonight before some down time in the dorms, then to the Player's Lounge to watch the Man City game at 8pm.  The kids need their sleep tonight before their 3rd matches of the trip tomorrow!

View photos from today here.