What Does AAU Stand For?

What does AAU stand for in basketball?

In basketball, AAU means the club or travel circuit run under the Amateur Athletic Union. Players join a club team, not a school team, and play weekend tournaments, mostly in spring and summer. Teams are grouped by age or grade, from young elementary players up through high school.

For high school players, these events matter because college coaches watch them during set recruiting periods. Many families talk about "AAU season" the way they talk about the school season. People also use AAU loosely for any travel basketball, even events run by other groups or by shoe company circuits.

The Amateur Athletic Union beyond basketball

The union was formed in the late 1800s to set common rules for amateur sports. For much of the 1900s it governed many Olympic sports in the United States and chose athletes for international events. After a federal law in the late 1970s gave each Olympic sport its own national governing body, the AAU turned its focus to grassroots and youth sports.

• It runs national championships in dozens of sports, from track and field to baton twirling.
• It hosts a large multi sport event for young athletes known as the AAU Junior Olympic Games.
• It gives the James E. Sullivan Award, an honor for an outstanding amateur athlete.
• Members, coaches and clubs register with the union, and it provides insurance and rules for its events.

AAU stands for something else in higher education

The Association of American Universities was founded in 1900 by a small group of universities that offered doctoral degrees. Today it is a membership group of top research universities in the US and Canada. Joining is by invitation, and being "an AAU school" is seen as a mark of research strength.

So a sentence like "the campus was invited to join the AAU" has nothing to do with sports. For other college letters, see the school acronyms list and the NCAA page.

AAU vs NCAA vs school teams

A player can be on a high school team in winter and an AAU team in summer. State high school associations set rules for the school season, so the two seasons usually do not overlap.

How to say and write AAU

Say "A A U" or "double A U." Both are common. Since the first letter sounds like "ay," pick "an": "an AAU team," "an AAU tournament." Capital letters, no dots.

• "She plays AAU in the summer and varsity in the winter."
• "The AAU tournament runs Friday through Sunday."
• "His AAU coach sent film to three colleges."
• "The university is a longtime AAU member."

Other bodies known by initials are gathered in the government and military acronyms section, or learn the basics on what is an acronym.