En Route: The Best Youth Club President In America? (Goal.com)

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He is honest.  

He is brash.  

And he is passionate about soccer.  

Los Angeles Futbol Club’s president Don Sheppard entered the world of youth soccer in 2002. Six years later, he was watching his top team play in the national final of the prestigious Development Academy.  

Fittingly, with his confidence about his club and teams, Sheppard was ejected from the game for arguing over a foul that led to a penalty kick.

Still, he had accomplished what many believed to be unthinkable: turn a small club into one of the most powerful in less than a decade.

So how'd he do it?

"When I developed LAFC, I had three tenants," Sheppard said in a phone interview on Monday. "One, money would not hold anyone back. Two, parents couldn’t coach or be on the board of the club. Three, we would have an ABC set-up so the kids play at the right level."

He went on to explain the ABC set up: "Every year, all kids try out to play in the club. The best 16 to 18 are on the A team, the next 18 are on B and then the next 18 are on C. Everyone else doesn’t make the club. Each year we hold new tryouts."

No roster spot was guaranteed on any team in LAFC.  

The idea was simple yet difficult to implement. Sheppard was bucking the pay-to-play model, investing his own money into the club, and making sure he put the best players out there.

He thought LAFC could be the first club to truly accomplish eradicating the accepted structure, and his passion for soccer in the United States made him believe it was a step in the right direction.

"The reason the U.S. isn't successful at the world stage is because the U.S. system is based on the pay-to-play (model). For most middle class players, college is their goal. That system works in America but doesn’t work to develop soccer players."

The idea is not new, but the execution of it is. He was attempting to push youth soccer to a new frontier. The concept piqued the interest of many.

"It drew everyone to LAFC," Sheppard remembers. "It is an environment that (great) coaches want to be in and attracted some of the best Hispanic talent in the area."

His dream started out as a club named Arroyo United Soccer Club. Four years later, at the beginning of the 2006 season, he changed the name to Los Angeles Futbol Club and had five teams. By the end of the season, there were 36 teams under the LAFC emblem. Fifty teams were part of the club just a season later. ("We would have had 100 teams if Coast Soccer League had allowed more than three teams per age group.")

Sheppard described how the club expanded so quickly, "The main reason was the system worked. Everyone was looking for a fair and equitable system in Southern California and we were winning. We had quality training and coaching. People really loved the fact parents couldn't coach. There was a major attraction to the idea."

The attraction, the growth, and the success all led to a very exclusive invite to the first season of the Development Academy. Sheppard said, "I think the Development Academy is one of the best moves U.S. Soccer has ever made. It is crucial for soccer's success—it can improve and expand the pool of talent."

The success of the Development Academy final appearance drew interest from global icon, Chelsea FC. Shortly thereafter, Chelsea FC and LAFC joined forces to create LAFC Chelsea; however, the name might not last for long.

"I don’t know if it will continue," Sheppard admits. "We may have out-grown (the partnership). Mainly, it was a branding exercise."

Now, with the introduction of MLS academies to the Development Academy, Sheppard knows his next action for the club—create a viable transition for his youth players into the professional game.

"We need a professional team," Sheppard said. "For those special few (players), we need an avenue for them."

He has begun talks with the NASL to bring a franchise back to Los Angeles. He believes NASL will emerge as the independent second division of U.S. Soccer professional leagues. Currently both the NASL and USL co-exist as D2 leagues in as temporary measure from U.S. Soccer; one will emerge as the lone representative at the end of the season.

The plans don’t stop there for LAFC. One of the best aspects of the club has been the ability to set up smaller leagues in economically deprived neighborhoods. Using a foundation, which Sheppard established shortly after the club, LAFC has set up a league in Watts-Willowbrook and Huntington Park—two areas untouched by organized youth soccer in this country.

Watts is a predominately African-American community where LAFC has built soccer fields and set up leagues to encourage children to play. The foundation has done the same in Huntington Park where the population is 97 percent Latino.

It is not all about soccer for Sheppard or LAFC, it is also about the education of his players. Of the players LAFC sent to college from that 2008 finalist team, he doesn’t believe there has been a single drop-out. Two of the stars of that team, Carlos Alvarez and Kevin Mejia, have been stand-outs for their college teams, UCONN and Boston College respectively. Also, both have had the opportunity to represent the U.S. national team at various youth levels.

With the success Sheppard has seen in Los Angeles, he wants to expand his mission to other cities across the country. He says he is just looking for the right financial partner to make that a reality.

J.R. Eskilson is the youth editor at Goal.com. Follow him on Twitter