For an afternoon, Landon Donovan was able to be a kid.
In his mind, at least.
Donovan, along with former United States Men's National team players Brian Ching and Stuart Holden, were at Finley Stadium Saturday afternoon for the Chattanooga Football Club foundation celebrity soccer weekend.
The three founded HELM Elite Soccer - which stands for Humility, Education, Leadership and Motivation - with the intentions of doing what they could to help grow the sport.
"With the guidance of professional athletes, our mission is to enhance the lives of America's youth by maximizing their soccer potential and giving back to local and national charities," their website states. "Through passion, humility and love, we provide children the opportunity to grow as athletes and human beings."
Donovan, who grew up in Los Angeles, said this was an opportunity he wished he could have had as a kid.
"When we were playing, you had two or three kids that soccer, but everyone else was playing every other sport," he said. "Now soccer is this vehicle to help these promote being active, promoting Chattanooga FC. You can tie that in now.
"The Galaxy wasn't around when I was growing up, but that would have been ideal. I could go out, see some Galaxy players and start to build an allegiance to that brand, that name, and think one day if I'm good enough, I could play for the Galaxy. Now these kids go, "I'm going to the Chattanooga FC game tonight. One kid says he plays for the academy team and wants to play for Chattanooga FC one day. That's beautiful. I love that."
The players took notice of the city during last season's National Premier Soccer League final between CFC and the New York Cosmos' B team, that was played in front of 18,227 fans. The former L.A. Galaxy member is the USMNT's all-time leader in goals and assists, as well as the only American player to top both 50 goals and 50 assists in an international career.
In his MLS career, he won a record six MLS cups and is both the all-time leader in goals (144) and assists (136). He's played in a lot of different venues and countries, but this weekend is the first time he's visited The Scenic City.
"I can't imagine coming to Chattanooga unless there is something like this that would draw us," he said. "That's the beauty of soccer; you get to travel and see places you would have never seen. One of the main goals when we started HELM is to go to places that don't see professional MLS soccer teams all the time. What they're doing here is, in some cases, better than what some MLS teams are doing in the way they're incorporating the community and the sheer number of fans and people that care about this team.
"That's really impressive for us to see."
Donovan will be at Finley this evening for CFC's home league opener against Nashville FC at 7:30. He called the team's recent run of success - with back-to-back NPSL runner-up finishes and four wins in the U.S. Open Cup since 2014, all behind a fanbase that averaged over 4,000 fans in 2015 - "pretty incredible for a fourth-division soccer team."
After tonight's game, CFC will host the Steinbrecher Cup next week, with three of the top amateur teams in the country coming to Chattanooga. They next play the Harrisburg City Islanders of the United Soccer League on June 1st, but with a win that night and one in the following round, they would have an opportunity to play against a MLS team.
"It's hard to compare to what's going on here in Chattanooga," Donovan said. "What you see is the passion that soccer fans have is starting to show up in all parts of the country. You have to give credit for what they've done here, because it's been done in a way that is meaningful to the community. I spoke with (CFC general manager) Sean McDaniel a lot, and he wants to build Chattanooga as a city and use soccer as a vehicle, what soccer does around the world.
"When you build a team and a situation like they've built here, all the players at this level, their life and career, most are young kids that want to either go to college or be professionals. They look at this and say, 'I want to go there, I want to play in front of 5,000 every night, not 50.' It starts attracting players and then all of a sudden you start building more of a name for yourself because you're playing in games that matter in Open Cup games.
"I want them to win (in the Open Cup). I want them to play a MLS team so it continues to draw attention to what an amazing thing they've done here in Chattanooga."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.