Team SSFL in Gujarat to assess footballing opportunities at grassroots

• 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.