When USA Football and the Steelers hosted a youth coaching school at the team's South Side training facility in May, scores of coaches showed up.

Few, however, were from Allegheny County.

"They came to discuss the state of youth football, but the sad thing about it is the only representatives from Pittsburgh were [from] Observatory Hill and Swissvale," said Clifford Williams, vice president of the Swissvale Athletic Association and head coach of the Swissvale Golden Flashes.

"There were representatives from Ohio, New York, but no one [else] from the Pittsburgh area was there."

Mr. Williams said the dearth of local coaches was indicative of the segmented nature of youth football leagues in the area, and of the need to bring coaches and youth athletes from Western Pennsylvania together to learn fundamentals of the game.

So when the opportunity came up for the Swissvale Athletic Association to host this year's NFL Youth Tackle Football Junior Player Development Program, he was more than happy to -- as he said -- "take the ball and run with it."

The program began Monday at Woodland Hills High School's Wolvarena in Turtle Creek, and will go for 12 days. It is free.

About 85 middle school athletes are learning how to play each position, taught by local youth football coaches who have undergone 60 hours of instruction through NFL Youth and passed lifetime background checks to qualify for the positions.

"I feel there are some great people helping coach kids in football, but some don't have the proper training," said Mike Marchinsky, Youth Football marketing manager for the Steelers. He added that the training combines classroom instruction with on-field work.

The players participate in a rotating schedule that provides hands-on instruction. They also will take part in two 12-on-12 scrimmages and a pro-style combine. In addition, they can expect visits from a number of Steelers and gift bags from the NFL, into which Mr. Williams said the Steelers "usually stuff a lot of stuff."

Mr. Williams said that one of the most important features of the camp has little to do directly with football. The Strive For Excellence program teaches a different life skill message at each practice.

"There's so much negativity [out there] and a lot of kids try to emulate that," Mr. Williams said. "We, as coaches and administrators, need to come together and show them the right direction."

"Those young kids who don't have fathers, we can help them out in that aspect," said Golden Flashes assistant coach Paul Noel, who also participates in the camp. "We have a lot of mothers who bring their [kids] down for that. Even if they don't play football anymore, they can come back for that piece."

Mr. Williams hopes to translate on-field values -- like leadership, commitment and teamwork -- to all aspects of his players' lives.

The Golden Flashes are part of the Mon River Pop Warner Youth Football League, which requires players to maintain 2.0 grade point averages to play in games. Mr. Williams said he hopes to work with schools and parents to obtain progress reports on players' behavior, which will determine whether they play in games.

Ja'nar Walker, a 15-year old Woodland Hills High School sophomore who participated in the camp for four years, said coaches monitoring players at school would definitely improve some of their behaviors.

"You're a student-athlete -- student first, athlete second," Mr. Williams said.

"I really think they need it," he said. "[Swissvale] had a player who was a really good athlete, he just never listened to the coaches so they took him out." He said if the player had known he was being monitored both in and out of school, he may have straightened up before being removed from the program.

The personal attention paid to athletes is one of the reasons Stephanie Coles, of Eastwood, enrolled her son, Leslie, in the camp and part of the reason she sent him to play football in Swissvale. Ms. Coles said she considered programs closer to her home but was discouraged by what she saw at games.

"My experience was hearing some coaches using foul language and some parents weren't as friendly as I'd like them to be. It wasn't child friendly," she said.

According to Mr. Williams, such environments are created through coaches and communities that value winning championships over developing the values of players. Through the Golden Flashes and the NFL program, he said he hopes to "bring back the innocence to youth football.

"I've been in the association for 20 years. I haven't seen anybody go to high school, go to college or get a job because they won a championship with a youth football team," he said. "Right here is where an athlete is taught life skills."