• Amateur basketball has long had a home in the AAU basketball leagues
• Since 1888, the Amateur Athletic Union has been a bastion for amateur sports of all varieties for both boys and girls
• The 2008 AAU boys basketball season was no different as the league continues to surge in popularity from coast to coast

Here at Electro-Mech we not only make electronic basketball scoreboards but also watch for the latest news what is happening on basketball arenas and with different basketball associations and share these news with you. Today our news is about AAU youth basketball.

The AAU began in in the late nineteenth century as America’s training ground for athletes preparing for international competition. The breadth of the programs offered matched the Olympic sports so that more US athletes would develop into stars in these fields. Most Olympians before the mid-1970s came through the AAU for their vital training, including Bruce Jenner, who won a gold medal in the 1976 decathlon. As Olympic training shifted to the government during that period, their AAU youth basketball took over as their most popular sport. Both boys and girls amateur basketball participants make up the largest percentage of the 500,000 members in the AAU each year. It takes 50,000 volunteers to run the nationwide league.

Though the AAU still offers training for over 30 sports and general physical fitness, it is the AAU amateur basketball association that is the most popular and has groomed some of the most famous NBA players. With the exception of Michael Jordan nearly every major NBA player has spent some time learning through the AAU. The most well-known pros still playing now reads like a list of the who’s who of the NBA: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson, Josh Howard, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade, Paul Pierce and Carmelo Anthony. It makes sense that the AAU would have such a far reach across the country. Teams are everywhere, with often 20 or more in a major city, and the cost is a very friendly $12 for the entire year, which includes up to 37 sports. Of course, with 40,000 coaches AAU youth basketball has a constant need for more players to participate.

The influence of the AAU as an amateur basketball association is growing in popularity, if anything. The 2009 NBA draft was filled with players that played in the 2008 AAU boys basketball or before. Of the top 13 draft picks, 12 of them were AAU alumni from the boys basketball league. Blake Griffin, the number one NBA draft pick by the Los Angeles Clippers, who was also the consensus pick and considered the only true lock in the draft is an veteran of the AAU basketball leagues. Hasheem Thabeet, James Harden and Tyreke Evans rounded out the top four draftees and were all products of their regional AAU youth basketball programs. Each summer the best teams from every grade level participate in summer tournaments to crown the winner of the national title. These events are also popular recruiting grounds for scouts and college coaches, who are looking for the next NBA stars.

AAU youth basketball has been an important developer of talent for our professional leagues and shows no signs of aging. The organization has stood by its original motto for the past 120 years, “Sports for all, forever.”