Article Originally Published on isfsports.org

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND (August 12, 2025) -- At the end of July, ISF President Željko Tanasković, ISF Executive Director Hasnae El Ayoubi, and ISF Event Director Uroš Savić were invited to the city of Houston, USA, for the 59th AAU Junior Olympic Games – the largest national multi-sport school sport competition of the country.

The visit provided an opportunity to discuss future cooperation, including increasing U.S. participation in ISF events and exploring the possibility of hosting an ISF event in the United States.

First held in 1967, the AAU Junior Olympic Games is the largest multi-sport youth event in the United States, having been hosted in 31 cities across 19 states. In over 12 days, the 2025 edition in Houston brought together more than 19,000 school athletes aged 8 to 18 competing in 15 sports, including the inaugural flag football competition, which drew hundreds of teams from nationwide qualifiers.

The AAU Junior Olympic Games is the dream stage for American school athletes, and has also become a path for outstanding student athletes to compete in skills and advance to higher levels of competition. Notable alumni of the AAU Junior Olympic Games include world-class athletes such as Sydney McLaughlin, Noah Lyles, Carl Lewis (athletics), Kevin Durant, Shaquille O’Neal, A’ja Wilson (basketball), and Hailey Hernandez (diving).

The ISF delegation’s four-day schedule included visits to competitions in athletics, swimming, gymnastics, karate, sport stacking, taekwondo, as well as some local popular sports which has not been featured in ISF events, such as: baton twirling, trampoline & tumbling, flag football, jump rope, cheerleading, and field hockey. The scale and quality of organization offered valuable insight into the AAU’s approach to delivering large, multi-sport youth events.

The visit underscored the strong potential for deepening collaboration between the two organizations, building on their shared commitment to providing sporting opportunities for young people and promoting the educational values of sport on a global scale.