Pioneer High School football coach Jeremy Gold spent parts of last week rubbing elbows with former NFL players and youth football coaches from across the country as part of the NFL-USA Football Summit held in Canton, Ohio.

The three-day conference didn’t deal much with the Xs and Os of the sport. In fact, Gold said his favorite portion of the summit was theater-related. Sort of.

Professional sports consultant Zachary Minor and his acting troupe staged interactive role-playing sessions that focused on character development.

“That was something that I related to and really got something out of,” Gold said. “But the whole deal was first class. It was a great, great experience.”

Gold was one of 51 high school coaches selected to attend the 11th annual summit, which USA Football says is a way of recognizing one coach from each state (plus Washington, D.C.) for their contributions to the sport. Coaches register for an opportunity to attend by entering a nomination and essay contest conducted by the NFL and USA Football.

More than 50 other supporters of youth and high school football, including former NFL players now coaching, attended the summit at Kent State Stark Professional Education & Conference Center.

Former NFL players like Merril Hoge (importance of coaching), Darrin Smith (importance of education), Mike Haynes, Dave Robinson and Todd Blackledge addressed the group.

“It was mainly about educating us, as coaches, and trying to get us to be advocates in our own states and get more people aware of certain safety and health issues,” Gold said. “We do need to stand up and protect our children. This is the greatest sport that there is, and we want to make sure it remains a safe game from youth level to the NFL.”

Coaches heard from Dr. Stan Herring about the importance of concussion awareness in youth sports and Dr. Linn Goldberg about steroid and supplement education. Other topics included injury prevention, heat and hydration, character development, NCAA eligibility and recruiting, proper equipment fitting and handling coach-player-parent relationships.

“I was around some great coaches from around the country,” Gold said. “I got to network, meet people and talk some football. I feel grateful to be able to have participate in such a great event.”

The NFL and the NFL Players Association fund the summit.