The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has more than 700,000 members nationwide, including more than 100,000 volunteers. The AAU was founded on January 21, 1888, by James E. Sullivan and

William Buckingham Curtis William Buckingham "Father Bill" Curtis (January 17, 1837 – June 30, 1900) was one of the most important proponents of organized athletics in the late 1800s in America. Curtis had a remarkable career as a competitor, official, sports editor, ...

with the goal of creating common standards in amateur sport. Since then, most national championships for youth athletes in the United States have taken place under AAU leadership. From its founding as a publicly supported organization, the AAU has represented U.S. sports within the various international sports federations. In the late 1800s to the early 1900s, Spalding Athletic Library of the Spaulding Company published the Official Rules of the AAU. The AAU formerly worked closely with what is now today the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to prepare U.S. athletes for both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, helping in the qualification of athletes to form the national team. As part of this, the

AAU Junior Olympic Games The AAU Junior Olympic Games'' are the pinnacle competitions held annually by the US Amateur Athletic Union. Overview The AAU Junior Olympic Games are known as the largest national multi-sport event for youth in the United States. It has become t ...

were introduced in 1949, with athletes aged 8 to 16 years, or older in certain sports, being able to participate. Many future World and Olympic champions have appeared in these events, which are still held every year. In the 1970s, the AAU received growing criticism. Many claimed that its regulatory framework was outdated. Women were banned from participating in certain competitions and some runners were locked out. There were also problems with sporting goods that did not meet the standards of the AAU. During this time, the Olympic Sports Act of 1978 organized the then United States Olympic Committee and saw the re-establishment of independent associations for the Olympic sports, referred to as national governing bodies. The rise of professionalism in all sports in the latter half of the 20th century also hurt the AAU's viability. As a result, the AAU lost its influence and importance in international sports, and focused on the support and promotion of predominantly youthful athletes, as well as on the organization of national sports events.

History

Prior to AAU, the National Association of Amateur Athletes of America (NAAA) existed from 1879 to 1888. The AAU was co-founded in 1888 by

to establish standards and uniformity in amateur sports.William Buckingham "Father Bill" Curtis: Founder of the U.S. Olympic Committee, by Lowell M. Seida (1998) During its early years the AAU served as a leader in international sport representing the United States in the international sports federations. The AAU worked closely with the

Olympic movement The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

to prepare athletes for the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

. After the

Amateur Sports Act of 1978 The Amateur Sports Act of 1978, signed by President Jimmy Carter, established the United States Olympic Committee and provides for national governing bodies for each Olympic sport. The Act provides important legal protection for individual athletes ...

broke up the AAU's responsibility as the national Olympic sports

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

, the AAU focused on providing sports programs for all participants of all ages beginning at the local and regional levels. The open

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Oly ...

were organized by the AAU between 1888 and 197

The philosophy of the AAU is "Sports for All, Forever." In 1923 the AAU sponsored the 1923 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, First American Track & Field championships for women. The AAU is divided into 56 distinct district associations, which annually sanction 34 sports programs, 250 national championships, and over 30,000 age division events. The AAU events have over 500,000 participants and over 50,000 volunteers.

Women barred

Starting in 1914, the Amateur Athletic Union barred women athletes from competing in events that it sponsored. In 1914 they changed their rules and allowed women to compete in a limited number of swimming events. Just two years later in 1916, AAU was considering discontinuing their experiment in allowing women at swimming events. In 1922, the Metropolitan AAU in New York City approved a larger program of sanctioned events for women but still barred them from running events over one-half mile because they were considered too strenuous. The reason given for barring women was that if a woman was allowed to run more than a half-mile they would put their

reproductive health Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a field of research, healthcare, and social activism that explores the health of an individual's reproductive system and sexual wellbeing during all stages of their life. The term can also be further de ...

at risk. But by 1923 the AAU allowed women to compete in most sports, including basketball. The AAU held women's basketball tournaments from 1926 through 1970. In 1961, the Amateur Athletic Union still prohibited women from competing in road running events and even if organizers broke the rule and allowed a woman to participate, her results would not be counted in the official race results. In 1970, the first

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor (commercial), sponsor) is an annual Marathon (sport), marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest mar ...

ignored the AAU rules and allowed women in the event even if it meant that their scores would not be official. For the second New York City Marathon in 1971 the AAU allowed women to participate if they started the race 10 minutes before, or 10 minutes after the men, or if they ran a

separate but equal Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law, according to which racial segregation did not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which nominally guaranteed "equal protec ...

course. By 1974 women were becoming more vocal about their restrictions.

Ice hockey breaks away

Prior to 1936,

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

in North America was governed by the AAU and the

Amateur Athletic Union of Canada The history of Canadian sports falls into five stages of development: early recreational activities before 1840; the start of organized competition, 1840–1880; the emergence of national organizations, 1882–1914; the rapid growth of both amateur ...

. After the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) split ways with its national union, the AAU terminated its working agreement with the CAHA which had allowed for transferring of players and exhibition games between the two countries. The AAU then issued an ultimatum to the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL) in August 1937, not to have any Canadian-born players in its league. EAHL president Tommy Lockhart chose to break away from the AAU and reached an agreement with the CAHA, then founded the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States (AHAUS) to govern ice hockey. The AHAUS and the CAHA joined to form the

International Ice Hockey Association The International Ice Hockey Association was a governing body for international ice hockey. It was established in 1940 when the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association wanted more control over international hockey, and was in disagreement with the ...

, which merged into the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace to become the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) in 1947. With the merger, the IIHF chose to recognize the AHAUS as the governing body of hockey in the United States, instead of the AAU. Despite the decision by the IIHF, the AAU sent its own team to compete in

ice hockey at the 1948 Winter Olympics The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, was the sixth Olympic Championship, also served as the 15th World Championships and the 26th European Championships. Canada won its fifth Olympic gold meda ...

. The AAU was supported by the

United States Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...

led by

Avery Brundage Avery Brundage (; September 28, 1887 – May 8, 1975) was an American sports administrator who served as the fifth president of the International Olympic Committee from 1952 to 1972. The only American and only non-European to attain that p ...

, who threatened a United States boycott the Olympics if an AHAUS team was recognized instead of an AAU team. The status of ice hockey at the 1948 Winter Olympics was not resolved until the night before the Olympics began, after bitter negotiations. The

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

allowed the AHAUS team to participate, but they were ineligible to win an Olympic medal.

Break-up

The Amateur Sports Act of 1978 was precipitated by grumblings of the inefficiency of the AAU to manage the multitude of sports at the Olympic level.

USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics is responsible for selecting and train ...

was formed initially as a feeder program in 1963 as a response to perceived poor performance by the American performers in the Olympics and at World Championships. The USWF was formed in 1968 as an effort to take over amateur wrestling as an independent governing body. Their position was supported when FILA, then wrestling's world governing body, refused to accept membership of "umbrella" sports organizations like the AAU. The International Track Association was formed immediately after the 1972 Olympics. Prior to the formation of the ITA, track and field athletes were amateur athletes, as required by the Olympic creed of the day. The only income they received from their sport was "under the table." As a result, many American athletes' careers were frequently cut short shortly after their subsidized participation at the collegiate level ended, while Eastern Bloc and other international athletes frequently had their careers extended, subsidized ostensibly by participation in the Army or police forces. Pressure from the athletes had been mounting for years to find an answer. '' Track and Field News'' discussed the subject with its cover article "Take the Money and Run" in November 1971.

Headquarters

In 1994, the AAU joined forces with the

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...

Resort, signing a 30-year agreement. As part of that agreement, many of AAU's national championships in many sports are played at the

ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the Walt Disney World, Walt Disney World Resort, in Bay Lake, Florida, Bay Lake, Florida, United States, near Orlando, Florida, Orlando. The complex includes ni ...

in Lake Buena Vista. In 1996, the AAU relocated its national headquarters to Walt Disney World in

Lake Buena Vista Buena Vista, meaning "good view" in Spanish, may refer to: Places Canada * Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador, with the name being originally derived from “Buena Vista” *Buena Vista, Saskatchewan *Buena Vista, Saskatoon, a neighborhood in ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. More than 40 AAU national events are conducted at the complex. The AAU headquarters is located within the former Walt Disney World Preview Center.

Programs

Programs offered by the AAU include: AAU Sports Program,

, AAU James E. Sullivan Memorial Award and the AAU Complete Athlete Program. From Canada, CIA Bounce joined AAU league basketball in 2010. CIA Bounce had formed in 2006 as a merger of two Ontario teams, C.I.A., led by coach Mike George, and Bounce, led by coach Tony McIntyre, and rose to prominence as the sole Canadian team among 40 in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League. AAU basketball programs have since steadily grown in Canada. In addition, the President's Challenge program is administered on behalf of the

President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports The President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition (PCSFN) is an American government organization that aims to "promote, encourage and motivate Americans of all ages to become Physical activity, physically active and participate in sports". ...

. The AAU has 33 national committees to organize its activities in particular sports. AAU operates under a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status granted in 1996.

Sports offered

The Amateur Athletic Union offers participants sport programming in individual and team sports in their local community that they can join and compete with other athletes their own age. There are teams in most sports ranging from 9U to 18U, allowing youth athletes to play for championships in sports against other athletes similar in age and athletic development. The AAU offers sport programming for individuals and teams in the following sports: *

Aerobics Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines with the goal of improving all elements of fitness ( flexibility, muscular strength, and cardio-vascular fitness). ...

* Athletics *

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

* Baton twirling * Beach volleyball *

Bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...

* Cheerleading * Dance * Football *

Futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

Flag football Flag football is a variant of American football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a down. The sport has a strong amateur following ...

* Freestyle judo *

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

Gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

Jump rope A skipping rope (British English) or jump rope (American English) is a tool used in the sport of skipping/jump rope where one or more participants jump over a rope swung so that it passes under their feet and over their heads. There are multi ...

* Karate *

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

Olympic weightlifting Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...

* Pickleball *

Powerlifting Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effo ...

* Soccer *

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

* Surfing *

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and Diving * Table tennis *

Taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

Track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

* Trampoline and Tumbling *

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

Water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

AAU Cares

The AAU Cares program was established in 2016 as the AAU's way of giving back to the community. The first event was held in conjunction with the 86th AAU James E. Sullivan Award. With the assistance of New York State Senator Kevin Parker, bicycles were assembled by the AAU Board of Directors and presented to under-served New York City area youth. Other AAU Cares events were held in conjunction with the AAU Girls' Junior National Volleyball Championships in 2016 and 2017 respectively where the AAU teamed up with Feeding Children Everywhere to pack a total of 120,000 meals in total for hungry children.

United Hockey Union

The

United Hockey Union The United Hockey Union (UHU), founded in 2012, is a group of ice hockey leagues in North America. The UHU is overseen and insured by the Amateur Athletic Union. Neither body is recognized by USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, or the International Ice Hoc ...

(UHU) is a group of junior ice hockey leagues and the NCHA college club league based in North America. The UHU is overseen and insured by the Amateur Athletic Union and was founded in 2012. Neither body is recognized by USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, or the International Ice Hockey Federation. AAU Hockey sponsors national tournaments for minor hockey levels. A North American Championship for Squirt/Atom and PeeWee levels as well as Midget and Bantam levels is set for debut in 2015 in cooperation with the Canadian Independent Hockey Federation (CIHF).

Masters Track and Field

Masters Track and Field officially began in 1968, and in 1971 became a separate group within the AAU organization. Masters Track and Field is now part of USA Track & Field (USATF).

Documentary films

The live action short film ''The Winning Strain'' was filmed at the 1966 AAU Track and Field championships in New York City and was nominated for an Oscar in 1967. 1999 HBO documentary ''Dare to Compete: The Struggle of Women in Sports'' won the Peabody Award. In September 2008, '' More than a Game'' premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest p ...

founded SpringHill Entertainment in 2007 to produce the award-winning documentary, which chronicles his high school basketball career. The 2011 documentary ''Empty Hand: The Real Karate Kids'', written and directed by Kevin Derek, chronicles four young karate competitors compete en route to the annual AAU Karate Championship national tournament. A 2013 AAU youth basketball documentary ''Little Ballers'', was televised by

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

in 2015, as the first documentary to be aired on '' NickSports''. The film was directed by Crystal McCrary and featured AAU youth team New Heights, featuring

Cole Anthony Cole Hinton Anthony (born May 15, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels. Listed at and , he plays t ...

, who is her son. In 2016, '' At All Costs'' explores how the AAU basketball circuit has professionalized youth basketball across America.

Criticism

In the early 1970s, the AAU became the subject of criticism, notably by outspoken track star

Steve Prefontaine Steve Roland "Pre" Prefontaine (January 25, 1951 – May 30, 1975) was an American long-distance runner who from 1973 to 1975 set American records at every distance from 2,000 to 10,000 meters. He competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics, a ...

, over the living conditions for amateur athletes under the AAU, as well as rules that were perceived to be arbitrary. The AAU ceased to have any governance over Olympic sports in the U.S. when, due to various criticisms,

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

intervened. A three-year commission led to its enactment of the

, establishing the

(USOPC) and national governing bodies for each Olympic sport. The AAU continues as a voluntary organization which mainly promotes youth sports. In 2015, Kobe Bryant strongly criticized the AAU, describing it as "Horrible, terrible AAU basketball. It's stupid. It doesn't teach our kids how to play the game at all so you wind up having players that are big and they bring it up and they do all this fancy crap and they don't know how to post. They don't know the fundamentals of the game. It's stupid". Bryant, who moved to Italy at age six because of his father playing basketball there, stated that the AAU has been "treating (amateur basketball players) like cash cows for everyone to profit off of". Steve Kerr has also spoken out against the AAU, stating that the AAU's structure devalues winning, with many teams playing as much as four times a day and some players changing teams from one morning to the afternoon of the same day. Kerr also states that "The process of growing as a team basketball player — learning how to become part of a whole, how to fit into something bigger than oneself — becomes completely lost within the AAU fabric". Sexual misconduct allegations have come to light several times during the 21st century. Former President Robert W. "Bobby" Dodd was accused of abuse in 2011. Then in 2016, the AAU was sued for allowing Rick Butler, a youth volleyball coach accused of sexually abusing his players in the past, to coach an under-18 team in the AAU Girls' Junior National Volleyball Championships.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1888 establishments in the United States Lake Buena Vista, Florida Organizations based in Florida Sports organizations established in 1888