As victory celebrations go, this one left a little to be desired. Around 100 family, friends, and fans on a recent crisp and windy day gathered on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery to honour the Vancouver Whitecaps for capturing the United Soccer League's First Division championship.

And like most things the Whitecaps do, this was understated””an opportunity to share something with the fans they have rather than worry about the ones they don't. And, besides, as an organization, perhaps the Whitecaps are waiting until next month to throw the real victory party.

That's because in addition to the women Whitecaps taking the W-League title in August and the men doing their thing earlier this month in Rochester, New York, the 'Caps could add as many as six more North American titles to their trophy collection before the year is through.

It's all part of the master plan set forth by billionaire owner Greg Kerfoot: the Whitecaps are quickly realizing their dream of becoming the leading soccer organization at any level in Canada and the United States.

Although the professional sides are the ones that garner the attention, it's what the Whitecaps are doing at the youth level that is not only impressive but should also stand the organization in good stead for years to come.

In all, including the two professional teams and a pair of reserve squads, the Whitecap family is comprised of 18 teams and more than 350 players, from 11-year-olds up through the pros. And next month, six of those 'Caps youth teams (four boys and two girls teams) are off to Tampa, Florida, to compete in the USL Super-Y League championships and attempt to further the reputation of the organization as North America's best.

“Hopefully, what it suggests is that we're groundbreaking,” Whitecaps director of soccer operations and local soccer icon Bob Lenarduzzi tells the Straight. “I have no idea who's second [in terms of producing winners], and if there is another club, they're not doing it at the highest level. We're winning championships; we're sending teams to North American championships and, believe it or not, I think we've only scratched the surface. I think we've got the framework, and our objective is to make our youth program a conveyor belt to players for our first teams and our national teams, and the ones that are good enough, we have to get them abroad. It's not our objective to hang on to those players. We feel we'll take them to a certain point, but if they're good enough, they need to be abroad.”

Lenarduzzi is hoping the success of the professional teams will inspire all the other teams in the organization. And although the feeder system hasn't yet produced any players for the pro sides, it's only a matter of time. When it does happen, it won't be just the Whitecap that benefits but soccer as a whole in this country.

“We're going into new territory,” Lenarduzzi adds. “We're getting into territory that professional clubs in North America don't get involved in. They leave it [development] to youth soccer. My belief, and one of the reasons we're doing what we're doing, is that as the coach of the national team I was judged on my performance with the national team. I had the players at my disposal who were the product of the development system. And it's not good enough. And the coaches that came after me had the same problem. We're not doing a good enough job of developing players.”

So after settling what Lenarduzzi refers to as “a lot of territorialism” with local clubs, the provincial soccer association, and the sport's national body, the Whitecaps have taken the lead in trying to foster young soccer talent. And instead of the various organizations tugging young talent in different directions, there finally seems to be some consensus that what the Whitecaps are doing is the best thing for the kids.

“My belief is that we [club teams in Canada] need to lead the way, and I think we're doing that and, hopefully, other clubs will take our lead, because the more clubs that do it, the more players that are going to flow through to our senior men's and women's teams,” Lenarduzzi says. “What's going to happen is the profile that these [men's and women's championship] teams are bringing to our club, and our sport, ideally, will result in the young players who are playing the game now wanting to be Whitecaps. And that's not a right, that's something that we need to earn, and I think we're doing our bit in earning that and we've got to continue to get better.”

Lenarduzzi, who oversees the entire umbrella of Whitecaps teams, leans on his brother Dan to run the club's youth division with help from former Whitecaps coach Tony Fonseca and Andrea Neil, a playing coach on the women's team. So there's plenty of experience helping out with the young players in the system, one of the main reasons the 'Caps are sending those six teams to compete for North American titles next month.

Although Bob Lenarduzzi hopes the recent success of the professional teams inspires the youth squads to do well in Tampa, he doesn't want to burden the kids with pressure to perform. Lenarduzzi says team achievements at that level are nice but, ultimately, it's about moving players through the system so that one day the Whitecaps can stock their pro sides from within. And, he suggests, that might happen much sooner than some think.

“My objective is to actually have 15- and 16-year-olds playing on our first team. It happens everywhere in the world. If you're good enough, you're old enough. The whole player-development model is based on success on the field, but most clubs around the world judge their player development by how many players filter through to the first team. I think that's a good barometer.”

So even though 2006 has already been a great year for the Vancouver Whitecaps, the best may be yet to come. With the success for the Y-League teams destined for Florida next month, it likely means the organization is paving the way for future First Division and W-League titles””and, hopefully, larger victory celebrations to mark the achievements.

Jeff Paterson is a sportscaster and talk-show host on Vancouver's all-sports radio, Team 1040. E-mail him at jeff.paterson@team1040.ca.