Grassroots Stories

Society for Transformation, Inclusion and Recognition through Sports (STAIRS) and Gujarat State Football Association (GSFA) have entered into an agreement to jointly develop the football culture across the state. The organizations will be conducting the STAIRS School Football League (SSFL) together in the state. The objective of the association is to create opportunities for budding players at the grassroots and complement the developing sporting culture in the state of Gujarat. The organizations plan to meet this objective by introducing SSFL across all districts of Gujarat. "We are glad that STAIRS has brought SSFL to Gujarat as this will create enormous scouting opportunities to scout talent at grassroots. The league will fill the major gap as there has been no professionally managed platform of such a scale in the state for young footballers to showcase their talent. "The mission of SSFL is completely in sync with the objective of GSFA which is to build football culture, create multiple opportunities for footballers and introduce sustainable and scalable programmes that can position Gujarat as a sporting state. "We are proud to have partnered STAIRS and are looking forward to the promising outcomes of this association," said ShriGulabChauhan, Secretary, Gujarat State Football Association. Siddhartha Upadhyay, Founder & Secretary General of STAIRS Foundation said, "We had launched SSFL in Ahmadabad and Gandhi Nagar last year and were surprised by the overwhelming response from the footballers at the grassroots. Hence, we planned to scale up the league and take it to every possible district in the state. "The support from the sporting fraternity from Gujarat has been appreciable and we are glad to have partnered GSFA to conduct SSFL across the state. The expertise of GSFA, its understanding of the grassroots and the knowledge of the game will play a significant role in successful implementation of the league and meet its objectives.

Enar's Vacation is the story about Enar, who goes on vacation. It's about the places he sees and the people he meets. It is, for the most part, a nice and friendly story - much like Enar himself. +++ This is the beta version of the story. I'm sharing it here in order to get feedback on both technique and content. Each chapter comes with a set of comments attached at the end. You don't have to answer these. They're mainly there as a starting point for providing feedback on the chapters, so only bother with those questions that relate to something you thought about while reading. It would help me make my story the best it can be. The beta version I'm sharing here contains the entire story from beginning to end, including epilogue. The only thing that's not included is the appendix. It's not necessary to enjoy the story, but will eventually contain a short dictionary as well as explanations of certain aspects of the setting. I hope you will enjoy it. Content advisory: - Character Development: High - Action and Combat: Very Low - Setting and Environment: Rich - Conversation and Dialogue: High - Magic and Wonder: Present - Feelings and Emotions: High - Pace: Low - Chuckles: Yes - Drugs and Alcohol: Yes

Lena returns to her childhood neighborhood, only to find it teetering on the edge of dramatic change. The old bookstore, once a bustling hub of cultural exchange, has lain dormant for years. Now, as gentrification creeps in and small businesses struggle to survive, Lena dreams of reviving this intimate space into a vibrant center for art, learning, and conversation. Through the hesitant trust of a wary shopkeeper, the untapped potential of a young musician torn between art and social media fame, and the gentle wisdom of a retired teacher, Lena learns that community bonds are as fragile as they are essential. Together, they attempt to break the cycle of indifference and disconnection-one poetry reading, mural painting, and open-mic night at a time. "Whispers Between the Shelves" offers an uplifting exploration of resilience, dialogue, and the quiet power of cultural spaces in an urban environment. It's a journey that celebrates the courage needed to rewrite a neighborhood's narrative, one reader, one story, and one conversation at a time.

• Team STAIRS to initiate talks with government authorities for support • Begin assessment of sporting culture at the grassroots, especially amongst underprivileged communities • Understand the ongoing programmes and their impact • Evaluate the existing sports infrastructure's capacity • Assess possibilities of support/partnerships with corporate groups After a great success of STAIRS School Football League in Delhi, Team STAIRS is planning to launch the same in Gujarat. The idea is to engage over 10,000 budding footballers at the grassroots and create an opportunity for the promising ones to showcase their talent to the mentors.Team STAIRS has initiated the process of conducting the baseline survey across Gujarat to understand the overall sporting culture across various regions of the state as well as the popularity of football amongst teenagers. The team will closely monitor the activities of school-going teens as well as school dropouts and unschooled to create hypothesis on how football intervention can bring about the behavioural change amongst the youth of the state.The team will also evaluate the impact and the scale of the ongoing sports activities as also the existing sports infrastructure and facilities available in the state. Findings from its surveys and secondary research will be shared with the concerned authorities in the government as well as the sports fraternity with ideas and suggestions for developments of sports vis-à-vis overall growth of the youth in the state. "There is a lot of good work happening across the country for development of sports at the grassroots. The governments, former players as well as several non-profits are making a true impact. However, as much as you do, there will always be a need to do a bit more, improve further and make a little better impact. That is what SSFL does.

A poem of power we all possess but are not always responsible with.

A life as a footballer or soccer player is sometimes tough. Yet, if family life is tough then it is almost impossible. With the highs and lows, this is a story of a young boy - 5years old - who has a passion and is like most other boys from England, A FOOTBALL HOPEFUL FOR THE FUTURE!!!

Emma Stephens is a Sophmore in high school that dreams of finding true love. When the love of her life and best friend, Jake Palmer, kisses her, everything seems to suddenly make sense. Emma thinks she has finally found her soul mate, untill she catches him kissing another girl. Her other best friend, Athena Brighton, tries to set her up with guys in her grade, to help Emma get over Jake. But it doesn't work because she knows no guy could ever live up to Jake. Emma has always loved Jake. Now she's ruined her friendship and her one chance of being with him.

It happens almost every four years. India's paltry medal count at the Olympics or other international events leads to furore in Indian media highlighting the government's failure to make sports a priority.

No persons or places in this story exist, the situations, however, all too often. We all make choices based on the information we get. Information, which only shows part of the truth. Alex has two paths in front of him, which one will he choose?

The Stairs School Football League (SSFL), Gujarat (North Zone), concluded with much fanfare as Anand Niketan School team lifted the coveted gold trophy beating Eklavya School that contented itself with the silver trophy. The St. Xaviers' School were the second runners-up. The individual promising players at the tournament received the much sought after SSFL golden boots and golden boot & ball trophies. SSFL Gujarat (North Zone) engaged about 1200 footballers from 64 schools from the north zone and created an engagement opportunities for over 100 sports professionals from the zone. The league witnessed about 88 matches being played under the FIFA format. The idea of the under 14 league is to spot the talented players who can be trained and mentored to qualify for the Indian team that shall compete in the FIFA Under 17 World Cup that comes to India next year. The dignitaries at the awards ceremony included Mr. Sandip Pradhan, Director General, Sports Authority of Gujarat as a chief guest while Mr. Gopal Kag, Head Coach, Football Development Program, Sports Authority of Gujarat was the special guest. The other guests of honour included Mr. Tarun Roy, Chief Coach, Sports Authority of Gujarat (SAG) and Mr. Gulab Chauhan, General Secretary, Football Association of Gujarat. "This is a commendable programme and much needed for the development of grassroots football in the country. I appreciate efforts of Team STAIRS for bringing SSFL to Gujarat and providing a great platform to showcase their talent. The shall give a great boost to the efforts of sports authorities' efforts to create opportunities for budding and promising footballers," said Mr. Sandip Pradhan while witnessing the final matches being played at CASA Ground in Ahmedabad.

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