NGO Stairs trying to empower underprivileged children through the Stairs Student Football League

Stairs are trying to change football at the grassroots level itself

Stairs Student Football League (SSFL) is a one of its kind initiatives by Stairs, India’s largest NGO working towards empowerment of the underprivileged youth through sports, education and health. Guided by the ethos of providing an opportunity for every child to play, irrespective of his caste, creed and financial status, Stairs Student Football League is today considered an able and right platform for showcasing talent.

A brainchild of Mr. Siddhartha Upadhyay, Founder & Secretary General, Stairs, SSFL has earned a name for itself in promoting sporting talent from the grassroots level. Today it is the only school-level football league in the country that is working at the grassroots level to reveal the hidden sporting talent of children bound by financial or social constraints.

SSFL adopts a four-pronged strategy for talent identification that involves nurturing of the talent and making them eligible for representation in National /International competitions. The league intends to develop a well-organized grassroots youth development program, through an organised championship format that will be committed towards structured professional training.

The idea of this league is that every enthusiast between the age group of 14-17 gets an opportunity to play competitively. SSFL 2 is broadly divided into two age groups of U-14 and U-17 teams. These teams will be further divided into four zones namely East, West, North and South and will have representation from 31 schools. Out of this one team in each zone will also be there from Stairs.

As part of SSFL -2, these Football Trial Camps in Delhi from the 16th of May 2015 onwards. These camps will be conducted for the purpose of selection of total 8 teams, 4 teams of U-17 and 4 teams of U-14 players. Players selected for Stairs teams will be given refreshments & playing kits from Stairs. There will be a provision for special entry of street children and children from underprivileged areas whose selection will be done from grass root level & underprivileged section of the society.

The Hindustan Football League is helping Stairs with the technical aspects of the game

The 2015 edition will be organized in partnership with Hindustan Football Academy(HFA), which will provide technical assistance to the event and assist Stairs in conducting the tournament in a professional and organized manner. HFA has a football legacy spanning six decades. The club has been applauded for its groundbreaking approach to mentoring sporting talents. It mentors talent not just on a national level but internationally as well.

Mr. Siddhartha Upadhyay, who is the founder of Stairs, states the motto behind organizing Stairs, “Every child has a right to play and he or she cannot be denied this right just on the basis of his economic status, caste, colour, creed or sex. To end this bias and provide a level playing field to such children who do not have the economic wherewithal to take up sports as an activity, we started SSFL last year with an aim to promote football at the school level. Today SSFL is known as one of the most prestigious championship and the success of the first season of SSFL has prompted us to start the 2nd season of SSFL, on a much larger scale”.

A total of 10,000 School children from almost 500 schools will be participating in the championship. The highlight of this year’s championship is the participation of 30 all girls football team underlining the special focus Stairs has attached to the participation of girls in sports.

Adhering to the FIFA guidelines, the Championship will follow a world cup like format. One match will be played every week for three months starting from April with the top 16 team competing in the finals.