ORLANDO, Fla. - During a recent travel basketball game on May 1st at Soldiertown gym in Oakland, California, an incident occurred in which two players from the opposing team pushed, punched, and uttered a racial slur towards an opposing player.  This basketball event has been incorrectly reported as AAU licensed but was not hosted by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) organization. The AAU organization has no jurisdiction over this incident.

“Sports For All, Forever” is the AAU’s mission and our organization stands against violence and racial intolerance in any form. 

While AAU does host numerous basketball events throughout the year, not all basketball events are licensed/run by the AAU organization. Furthermore, AAU is frequently improperly used to describe all non-scholastic ("summer") travel basketball. Unfortunately, not all basketball teams, coaches, and events are registered with AAU and therefore are not subject to AAU standards. Nonetheless, many such events, coaches or teams are mischaracterized as AAU.

AAU licensed events require all participants to be AAU members, coaches to have passed a background check, and insurance to be in place for each athlete.
For questions if an event is AAU licensed, check our Find An Event page  or email mediafactcheck@aausports.org.