How do I form a club?
The four most important considerations in forming a club are developing a philosophy for your club, finding committed athletes, finding a coach and finding a practice facility. The first step must be developing a philosophy. What is the motivation behind forming this club? The answers to these questions must be decided before attempting to find a coach and athletes. If the coach and the athletes don’t buy into the philosophy of the club, it will eventually lead to problems and hard feelings.

The philosophy of the club can help to determine how you will go about finding athletes. Will you run area wide or local tryouts? Will they be open tryouts or by invitation only? You will also need to decide how many players you will have on your teams’ roster. Cost, which is addressed below, may have some impact on that decision.
I’ve formed my club, what’s next?
Once you have developed a philosophy, found enough committed athletes, a coach willing to abide by your philosophy and a practice facility, there are some administrative details that need to be worked out. The coach should go to www.aauathletics.org and click on “Rules”. The coach and club administrators need to familiarize themselves with the AAU Athletics rules. If there are still questions after reading through the Handbook, the AAU staff is always available to help coaches, administrators and parents to understand the process.

You will need to contact your AAU District office for qualifiers and District championships; player eligibility; tournament dates and locations; tournament application procedures; AAU athlete or non athlete and club memberships; AAU insurance programs; age and age/grade eligibility and much more. Click here to find your District’s contact information for the AAU Athletics District Sports Director.

What are the costs associated with AAU Track and Field?
Another administrative task that must be taken care of is to set the cost for athlete or non-athlete participation. Things to take into account when setting the price include: Athlete memberships ($12 or $14 per player), Non-Athlete memberships ($14 or $16 per coach), AAU club membership ($30, $60 or $300), event entry fees ($10-$35 per meet, uniforms, first aid kit (suggested), equipment bags, and other needed team equipment. You can go online at www.aausports.org and register your individual and club membership with a credit card. Remember to print out your membership information at the end so that you have them available for proof of membership at AAU sanctioned events. All the entry fees listed for tournaments are approximates; you need to speak to your tournament directors for exact fees.

This is also a good time for developing ideas on how you might raise money.

EXAMPLES:

  1. Get a sponsor.
  2. Have different fundraisers throughout the year (the AAU has a great fund raiser through ESPN the Magazine)
  3. Host a meet to raise money for your team.
Add all of your costs together, subtract any money you may have received from the examples above and divide by the number of members committed to participating with your club. This will give you to a cost per member.

Once the members of club have been finalized and you have a plan and budget put together you should have an athletes meeting with all the players and their parents. The athletes should decide on how many meets the club would be attending, the coach should review the information about AAU participation and the final fees should be set. This meeting will help to ensure that everyone is on the same page for the season. If possible, the club should pick the tournaments to enter, fill out the registration forms and get the season schedule set.

The more organized your club is and the more information the parents and athletes have, the better the AAU experience will be for everyone involved. The AAU staff is always available to answer questions about AAU Athletics or any other AAU program.
How can I find an AAU Event?
Go to www.aauathletics.org and click on “EVENTS” (located on the list on the top of the Home Page).
How do I find a club for my son or daughter to compete on?
If you do not want to form a club, then you’ll have to try and find a team for your child. Try talking to someone you know who has a son who competes in AAU Athletics can get in contact with his coach. If that coach cannot accommodate you then ask if he knows of other coaches looking for athletes or hosting try-outs. You can always contact your local AAU Athletics District Sports Director [click here] to see if he or she has any leads on tryouts or coaches looking for athletes.
If you would like an information packet mailed to you, please contact Garrett Veirs VIA email at garrett@aausports.org with your physical mailing address and contact phone number and a packet will be sent to you immediately.