On a warm summer morning, children's laughter could easily be heard, and smiles were as vibrant as the radiant sunshine, as kids enjoyed being outside, doing what they love.

And on this day, what they loved more than anything was football.

Steelers football to be exact.

It's a scene that has been replicated not just throughout this past summer, but since 2009 when the team first introduced the Steelers Youth Football Camps.

The camps started small, mainly attended by those in the local Pittsburgh area, but have grown significantly throughout Western Pennsylvania and well beyond, with participants coming from as far as Alaska and Hawaii and some even from overseas, taking in instruction from current and former Steelers players, as well as area youth football coaches who have been recipients of the Steelers High School Coach of the Week award.

"It's always a joy to see kids playing football on a field no matter the time of year, but the sold out camps that we put on during the summers, are truly special," said Dan Rooney, the Steelers Director of Business Development & Strategy. "We have our current and former players teaching the game of football to the kids from the Western Pennsylvania community, alongside kids who traveled from other states and countries to these summer camps."

The camps are a major aspect of the Steelers Youth Football Program, not just the first aspect introduced as part of the program, but one that helps grow the sport through instruction, safety and building a future fan base.

"It's the foundation of our game," said Rooney. "That's when a lot of our fans fall in love with the sport of football. It's when they're in their backyard, and they're playing football with their friends and family.

"These camps allow us to teach the game. The Steelers want it to be taught the right way, a safe, fun and competitive way. You can learn from some of the great players of our past, or learn from current players on our roster, how to throw a football, how to take a handoff, and how to run a route. These are the tricks of the trade of football that our youth who attend these camps can pick up and take into their seasons, whether it's flag football, tackle football, or a game at recess. They're going to leave the camps better football players than when they arrived."

This year the Steelers hosted Youth Football Camps at Highlands Sports Complex in West Virginia, Saint Vincent College, Slippery Rock University and West Allegheny High School for boys and girls ages 6-14. The team also partnered for a Nike 11-ON at Bethel Park High School.

"Every time we start a football camp, we say we have two objectives," said Mike Marchinsky, the Steelers senior manager of alumni relations and youth football. "We want to have fun, and we want to learn something.

"The fun is the number one goal because if they're having fun, they're going to come back and do it again. And especially now with kids and video games and devices, they have so many opportunities to do things. If it's not fun, you're not going to spend the time doing it.

"And football is a hard sport. Even if it is entry level. We always talk about life lessons and putting in hard work the way some of our guys put the work in, players like Hines Ward, James Harrison, T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward. Those are some of the examples that we use.

"You have to make sure it's fun because it is a challenge. It's something that takes a lot of time and effort. So, you've got to have some fun doing it too because there are some challenges. But there is plenty of fun too.

"We want to promote and grow the game of football. That consists of creating opportunities for boys and girls, showing they can play as kids in contact or non-contact. We're trying to increase participation and grow awareness of the game because there are opportunities later in life to either go on to college and play or find a career in football off the field. There's an opportunity to participate, represent your school, maybe represent your college. And there's opportunities in career development too. So obviously, that's a long, long way to get there to have a career in sports.

"Through our youth football camps, coaches' clinics, and everything that we do, we want to grow the sport and share our love of the game with others."

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Western Pennsylvania, and America in general, is a hotbed for football. There is absolutely no doubt about that.

But there are other places where American football is flourishing, and the Steelers are helping to make that popularity flourish, growing it not just in Western Pennsylvania, but also internationally.

Over the past few years the Steelers have expanded their youth football reach to an international audience, including Ireland, Mexico and Germany, all countries where the team has the rights to expand their brand and activities as part of the NFL's 'Global Markets Program.'

With the Steelers taking on the Minnesota Vikings in the first ever regular season NFL game in Ireland in September, the goal is to not just bring football to the region, but bring an understanding of the game by teaching it to the younger audience in Ireland and other countries.

"You don't just want to bring live games to these international markets, even though that's a big part of bringing our game to fans," said Rooney. "You also want to teach our game, because that's an important aspect of following a sport. That's really how you fall in love with the game, by picking up a ball and throwing it around with your friends.

"The fact that we've been able to put these camps on in Mexico, Ireland and Germany, and we've had current and former players teaching the game, is having an impact. Many American youth know how to play our sport. When you go to international markets, it might be their first time seeing American football. At the start of the day, you'll see the kids feeling it out, trying to understand the sport, and then by the end of a camp, you see smiles and they're having an absolute blast, which is what we want."

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One of the emerging areas in youth football in recent years is the growth, popularity and participation in girls flag football. The sport has taken off nationwide, and Western Pennsylvania has followed the trend. Flag football will also be displayed on the biggest stage when it debuts as an Olympic sport in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

The Steelers put their support behind a Girls Flag Football League in Pittsburgh the past four years, hosting events at the high school level throughout the year and working to expand the program.

The success the Steelers had in the region, along with the Philadelphia Eagles working with high schools in the Eastern part of the state, led to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) sanctioning girl's flag as a high school sport for the upcoming 2025-26 school year.

"It continues to be impressive the talent level that we see whether it's at a camp or during the girls' flag football season," said Rooney. "When we talk about football being a fun, competitive sport, you're absolutely seeing that in girls flag football and I think that's why it's been such a quick sport to grow. It's a sport that, although it might feel new, they're able to compare it to their experience on the basketball court or the soccer field. The skills are translating to flag football.

"We can't wait to see it continue to grow across Western Pennsylvania, which we believe will carry on in 2025 and beyond."

The Steelers and The Mentoring Partnership teamed up with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Giant Eagle and Spread Group for the inaugural Girls Flag All-Peer Team in 2025, which features high school players from the region who go above and beyond to provide mentor-like support to their teammates, in school and in the community.

The program was also elevated more this year with the Girls Flag Football League championship games airing on KDKA+, giving them the same attention as high school football for boys has in the Western Pennsylvania area.

"We've seen tremendous growth in girls flag," said Marchinsky. "It's fun to be a part of it because we can see it going from a kid that's come through our camp as a six, seven, eight-year-old to be back in our high school program. And there's some girls that played in our flag program that are playing for Pitt and other places where you see a whole life cycle of youth in high school football."

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A look around the Steelers locker room and it's basically a who's who in athletes who started off playing youth football. Some began playing in their backyard with siblings and neighborhood friends, others in flag football, and some in Pop Warner leagues.

It was an experience that helped them grow the love for the game, and the overall understanding of what the sport is about, allowing them to grow their love to where they are today.

"Youth football was the start of everything for me," said rookie quarterback Will Howard, who finished first in the Punt Pass & Kick Competition in 2014, part of the USA Football and Play60 program. "It made me fall in love with the game. I played for the Marsh Creek Eagles. It's a Pop Warner League in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia. And I loved it. I loved being around my buddies playing ball. I have vivid memories of peewee football. I remember my first coach, Malik Feamster. I'm still close with him.

"I remember one game I was begging him so hard to play defense, when we were up really big. I was begging him so much to play defense that he took my helmet, and he hid it under his arm. It was just funny me trying to get it because he was a big guy.

"That was the time that I fell in love with football."

He isn't the only one who fell in love with the sport at a young age. It's a common theme throughout the Steelers locker room, as youth football truly is where their football roots are deeply seeded.

"I had a lot of fun playing," said linebacker Alex Highsmith, who played for the Coastal Panthers in Wilmington, North Carolina growing up and now hosts his own football camp in his hometown. "It was important to play as a kid, learning about the game. I watched a lot of football growing up. Playing it, learning how to play right, helped me out. When I got to middle school and high school where you actually played tackle, I understood it more. I knew the ins and outs of the game. It's important for kids to get the knowledge of the game at a young age.

"Being coached well is so important at a young age. You want to be taught how to tackle well. Being coached right and player safety is huge for young kids."

Rooney himself grew up playing multiple sports, mainly focused on football at Shadyside Academy in Pittsburgh and then at Dartmouth College. He has seen the benefits playing a team sport provides and how it can translate to everyday life.

"I know it sounds cliche, but you always hear football is the ultimate team game, and it truly is," said Rooney. "It's more than just one person on the field. It takes all 11 on your side of the field, it takes everyone working together to execute the play, to then hopefully gain yards or score a touchdown.

"When you go through the tougher moments of football, the harder practices, the difficult games, that's when you form these deep relationships you hear about in the locker room. You really form deep bonds with your coaches and your teammates through the discipline and toughness as well as the fun that the game of football provides. It's really hard to replicate that anywhere.

"I played a lot of sports growing up and football was a unique one with the life lessons involved, friendships, discipline, toughness and the competitive fun of the sport is like nothing else."