The Nowra Anglican student, the son of former wakeboard world champion Josh Sanders and nephew of daredevil Robbie Maddison, has had a long journey to be selected for the UK tour.

“The selection started with regional tryouts at Unanderra before heading up to South Port in Queensland for the international trials, against players from all over the country,” Jet said.

Following the camp, which involved more than 500 athletes, Sanders was one of a small group of emerging talents to be named identified by the international coaches and invited back over to the UK in April to participate in a two week elite players camp at the West Ham United International Academy.

“There will be a lot of tough players on the tour. Hopefully I can improve my skills and knowledge of the game,” Jet said.

“I’m looking forward to the 10 days of intense training, as well as games against a number of England’s top football academies.

“It’ll also be very exciting to have the chance to attend a number of English Premier League games.”

While Jet’s focus is currently on showcasing his talents in the UK next year, the attacker hopes this is just step along his journey to one day becoming a professional football player.

“My long term goal it to be the first Australian to play for Barcelona FC in Spain,” he said.

To get to this point though, Jet, who has played for both Illaroo and Shoalhaven Heads-Berry before joining both the Illawarra Football Academy and Wollongong Wolves’ programs, has had to put in countless hours on the training pitch.

”I’m lucky enough to train with Bomaderry High student and Wolves under 18s skipper Brendan Low in Kiama – he has been a great role model for me,” Jet said.

“On top of that, my two brothers (Cash and Harley) travel up to Wollongong numerous time a week to train with the Illawarra Football Academy – who have really helped my game a lot.

“They have great coaches there and it’s always fun to play and learn against the other players.”