Familial connections helped New York teenager Jamie DiLuzio land a trial with an English academy over the summer. The 14-year-old who plays with BW Gottschee U15 ended up training on a few historic training grounds thanks to his uncle.

“My uncle Robert, my dad’s brother, has lived in London for 29 years,” DiLuzio told TopDrawerSoccer. “He has always been a Wimbledon supporter. He began as a fan of the London team that later moved to Milton Keanes and became MK Dons. He then became a supporter of AFC Wimbledon when it was created as an amateur side by the fans who own the team and the stadium.”

Wimbledon was promoted five times in nine seasons since it was founded in 2002 and now sits in League Two, the fourth division of English soccer. It has been a rapid rise for the club owned by the fans.

With young DiLuzio’s budding soccer career in the States, his uncle got in touch with AFC Wimbledon’s Chairman Erik Samuelson.

“[My uncle] told him that I always wanted to train in Europe and that he thought I was good enough to do so,” DiLuzio said. “He asked if I could come in the summer to train with AFC Wimbledon’s Academy, which has Category 3 status under the Football Association rating system.”

Nigel Higgs, the academy’s director, gave his blessing and DiLuzio was on his way to London.

“It was never clear to anyone if I would fit in, or for how long, so we planned a visit to my uncle in Wimbledon, buying only one-way tickets,” DiLuzio said. “That way we could come back right away, or not.”

DiLuzio trained for a couple of days with the Academy boys before he joined AFC Wimbledon’s U16 squad for preseason training.

“I was in the same position with the U16s as all the other team members and trialists who were trying to earn schoolboy contracts and, later, Academy scholarships,” DiLuzio said. “I trained three days a week and played in preseason friendlies against Crystal Palace, Fulham, Tromso (Norway), Kew Gardens, and Eastbourne U18s.”

DiLuzio was deployed as a left back with Wimbledon, which is his normal position.

“They really liked the way I got forward into the attack and still managed to get back to defense,” DiLuzio said. “My coach there, Mike Hamilton, said that’s how a left back should play in today’s game. He encouraged that approach throughout training.”

Although he stepped into a new environment in a different country, the game was the same for DiLuzio.

“There wasn’t really a difference in the training,” DiLuzio said. “What was different is that the game in England is more physical. That fact affects the coaching regarding physical challenges.”

“It also seemed to me that the competition between the players on the squad was more intense,” DiLuzio continued. “All these boys want to be professionals. Only one of them had plans to go to university. This is their only dream. It showed in training and in games.”

DeLuzio said his favorite memory of the trip was playing against Fulham at its training ground at Mospur Park. His stint with AFC Wimbledon lasted from July 7 to August 21. It was a long stint with one team, but it could have gone longer.

“I was never asked to leave. In fact, I was asked what my immediate future plans were,” DiLuzio said. “My dad and I told them I had to return to school in the U.S. I’m fairly certain I would have played for the U16s had I stayed.”

The Wimbledon coaches just reassured what DiLuzio had been doing.

“The advice I got was to keep doing what I was doing when I got back to the States,” he said. “Keep working hard, be as tough as I showed them that I was. They suggested that I should consider coming back if I could move there and earn a spot as a full-time scholarship boy in the future.”

Making that full-time leap is not as easy as it sounds.

“Going back is not as easy thing to do,” he said. “I’d have to become a full-time footballer. I’d have to move to England. I’d have to put my college hopes on hold. I don’t think all of that can be done right now. . . My best future might be here in the U.S. There are many good players and team here.”

DiLuzio’s path to college has taken a stop at the TDS Combine where he was named to the Best XI at two different events. The TDS Combine is the premier recruiting showcase for high school-age soccer players with 10 locations across the country.

Although his long-term future looks like it will remain in the States, the possibility of another summer in England is on his mind.

“Another coach I trained with once a week, Nigel James, who runs an academy to provide extra training to a bunch of boys whose group I was in from Spurs, Palace, Arsenal, and Chelsea (his own son), told my dad that I should live with my uncle next summer and train with him,” DiLuzio said. “He would get me tryouts with Middlesborough or Newcastle. We’ll see.”