The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. 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 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 US sports within the various international sports federations. It has grown over the years to become one of the leading and most influential associations.
The AAU formerly worked closely with the United States Olympic Committee to prepare U.S. athletes for the Olympic Games. As part of this, the AAU Junior Olympic Games were introduced in 1949. Young people 8 to 16 years of age, or older in certain sports, can participate in these games. 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 Many claimed that its regulatory framework was outdated.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 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.
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History
The AAU was founded in 1888 by William Buckingham Curtis to establish standards and uniformity in amateur sport. 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 to prepare athletes for the Olympic Games.
After the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 broke up the AAU's responsibility as the national Olympic sports governing body, the AAU focused on providing sports programs for all participants of all ages beginning at the local and regional levels.
The philosophy of the AAU is "Sports for All, Forever." In 1923 the AAU sponsored the 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.
Maps Amateur Athletic Union
Breakup
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 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 wrestling as an independent governing body. Their position was supported when FILA the world governing body refused to accept membership of "umbrella" sports organizations like the AAU.
After years of grumbling by athletes, the International Track Association was formed immediately after the 1972 Olympics to provide track and field athletes an opportunity to make money from their sporting efforts. Participants in the professional league were "banned for life" from the Olympics and their record breaking performances were never accepted.
Criticism
In the early 1970s, The AAU became the subject of criticism, notably by outspoken track star Steve Prefontaine, over the living conditions for amateur athletes under the AAU, as well as arbitrary rules. Congress adopted the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 in response to such criticisms, effectively removing the organization from any governance role. The AAU now continues as a voluntary organization largely promoting youth sports.
In 2008, The AAU also found itself under scrutiny over privacy of information of athletes. A local news station near the AAU Headquarters found boxes of personal information thrown out in dumpsters, raising questions about the organization's handling of private data.
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." Kobe, who moved to Italy at age 6 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 about as many as four times a day and some players changing teams as early as from one morning to an afternoon 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."
In the wake of sexual scandals that hit two U.S. universities, Penn State and Syracuse, involving acts of sexual abuse with children, charges have also reached the AAU in Memphis, Tennessee, through the alleged misconduct of then President Robert W. "Bobby" Dodd. In 2016, the AAU was sued for allowing Rick Butler, a youth volleyball coach accused of sexually abusing his players in the past, coach an under-18 team in the AAU Girls' Junior National Volleyball Championships.
Women barred
Since at least 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 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 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 course. By 1974 women were becoming more vocal about their restrictions. The Amateur Sports Act of 1978 removed the AAU from setting rules.
Programs
Programs offered by the AAU include: AAU Sports Program, AAU Junior Olympic Games, AAU James E. Sullivan Memorial Award and the AAU Complete Athlete Program. In addition, the President's Challenge program is administered on behalf of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. The AAU has 33 national committees to organize its activities in particular sports.
In 1994, the AAU joined forces with the Walt Disney World Resort, signing a 30-year agreement. As part of that agreement, many of AAU's national championships in many sports are played at the Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista. In 1996, the AAU relocated its national headquarters to Lake Buena Vista, Florida, adjacent to Walt Disney World. More than 40 AAU national events are conducted at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. The ESPN Wide World of Sports features a double-deck 7,500--seat baseball stadium and baseball quadraplex, a fieldhouse that accommodates up to six hardwood courts, a softball quadraplex, two youth baseball fields, a track and field complex, and four multi-purpose performance fields sized for soccer tournaments.
AAU operates under a 501(c)(3) tax-exemption letter granted by the federal government 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:
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 (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).
Districts
The Amateur Athletic Union is separated into 55 districts.
2. New England (New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont)
3. Adirondack (That portion of New York State east and north of Broome, Cortland, Dutchess, Onondaga, Orange, Oswego and Sullivan Counties)
4. Niagara (State of New York west of and including Broome, Cortland, Onondaga and Oswego Counties)
5. Connecticut (State of Connecticut)
6. New York Metropolitan (New York, south of and including Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan and Ulster Counties; also the Canal Zone)
7. New Jersey (New Jersey north of and including Hudson, Mercer and Monmouth Counties)
8. Middle Atlantic (New Jersey, south of Mercer and Monmouth County; all of the State of Delaware and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, east of and including Bedford, Centre, Clinton and Potter Counties)
9. Maryland (State of Maryland except the counties of Montgomery and Prince Georges)
10. Potomac Valley (All territory within the District of Columbia, counties of Montgomery and Prince Georges in the State of Maryland, and counties of Arlington and Fairfax and cities of Alexandria and Falls Church in the Commonwealth of Virginia) (formerly District of Columbia)
11. Western Pennsylvania (All counties in Pennsylvania west of Bedford, Centre, Clinton, Huntingdon and Potter Counties and the Counties of Brooke, Hancock, Marshall and Ohio in West Virginia)
12. Virginia (Commonwealth of Virginia except the Counties of Arlington and Fairfax and cities of Alexandria and Falls Church)
13. North Carolina (State of North Carolina)
14. Florida (Florida, except Miami-Dade, Broward, that part of Hendry County West of Route 833 and Palm Beach Counties)
15. Southeastern (The State of Alabama and the State of Tennessee)
16. Indiana (All of State of Indiana excepting Clark, Dearborn and Floyd Counties with the reservation that all wrestling therein be controlled by the Indiana District)
17. Ohio (State of Ohio except the counties of Ashland, Ashtabula, Belmont, Columbiana, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Jefferson, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Richland, Seneca, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas and Wayne); and the Dearborn County in the State of Indiana)
18. Lake Erie (The Counties of Ashland, Ashtabula, Belmont Columbiana, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Jefferson, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Richland, Seneca, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas and Wayne) (formerly Northeastern Ohio)
19. Michigan (State of Michigan)
20. Wisconsin (State of Wisconsin)
21. Central Illinois (Illinois, except Calhoun, Greene, Jersey, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair Counties-counties of Calhoun, Greene, Jersey, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair given to Ozark District, with reservation that all judo therein to be controlled by Central District)
22. Ozark (Missouri east of and including the following counties, Camden, Dallas, Douglas, Knox, Miller, Monroe, Montgomery, Osage, Ozark, Pike, Scotland, Shelby, including the city of St. Louis, and Webster. Counties of Calhoun, Greene, Jersey, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair in Illinois with reservation that all judo therein be controlled by Central Illinois District)
23. Arkansas (State of Arkansas and Bowie County, Texas)
24. Southern (The State of Louisiana and the State of Mississippi)
25. Gulf (That part of the State of Texas bounded on the North and including the counties of Angelina, Houston, Leon, Nacogdoches, Robertson and Shelby; on the East by the State of Louisiana; on the South by the Gulf of Mexico and on the West by and including the counties of Austin, Brazos, Colorado, Fort Bend, Grimes, Matagorda, Robertson, Waller, Washington and Wharton)
26. Southwestern Dallas/Fort Worth area and the rest of the Northeast part of Texas
27. Oklahoma
28. Missouri Valley
29. Nebraska
30. Minnesota
31. Montana
32. Colorado
33. Southern Pacific
34. Utah
35. Inland Empire
36. Pacific Northwest
37. Oregon
38. Pacific
39. Hawaii
40. Iowa
41. Kentucky
42. New Mexico
43. South Texas
44. Pacific Southwest
45. Georgia
46. Central California
47. West Texas
48. Arizona
49. Southern Nevada
50. Florida Gold Coast
51. West Virginia
52. North Dakota
54. South Dakota
55. South Carolina
56. Alaska
58. Wyoming
61. Puerto Rico
Presidents
The following people served as President of the Amateur Athletic Union.
References
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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