AAU Research Paper

There's a way to play sports at a higher level other than in high school. It’s an organization called AAU. AAU means Amateur Athletic Union which promotes young athletes to play at a higher level. It's played all across the country with athletes from ages six to twenty. It claims to have over 670,000 participants. The organization of AAU was founded January 21, 1888. Playing a sport outside of school can be very stressful especially if you're playing a sport for the school and you have classes to worry about. Have you ever wondered how it affected kids though? There are positive outcomes for playing AAU such as getting exposure to colleges, preparing yourself for season in school,and helping you compete at a higher level,but AAU sports has …show more content…
For example, most NBA players played AAU when they were younger. People say the reason they're getting hurt is because they're playing games back to back, but when they were younger they were playing 5 or 6 games every weekend of the summer. According to Jim Halley from USA Today High School Sports, Most high school teams play 25 to 30 games a season, but elite players frequently play 100 or more games on their summer club teams or in showcase events. (Halley). That means that an athlete playing sports outside of school work their body more than an average high school athlete because they play more games before their career actually starts. According to the US Centers of Disease Control, there are about 30 million kids and teens who participate in sports, and in high school, there are about 2 million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospitalizations. There are about 3.5 million kids under the age of 14 who receive medical treatment for sports injuries, and children ages 5-14 account for nearly 40 percent of all sports-related injuries treated in hospitals(Deese “For The Tennessean” ).Kids who start playing sports at a young age are usually the ones getting