A Youth Sports Giant Promised Reforms to Protect Kids From Sexual Abuse. Most Never Happened.

Molly Hensley-Clancy and Sarah Blesener:

Reporting Highlights

• Promised Reforms: The Amateur Athletic Union said it would implement “historic” reforms after a child sex abuse scandal in 2011, including mandatory training. It still hasn’t done so.
• “People Tried to Cover It Up”: A few years later, the AAU exonerated a top executive accused of sexual abuse without interviewing a single witness.
• Banned Coaches: The AAU said it would bar coaches banned for misconduct by other youth sports groups. But we found eight banned coaches working with kids in the AAU.

These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

In the competitive world of youth sports, few organizations have a reach as vast as the Amateur Athletic Union. 

With 760,000 athletes and coaches nationwide, the AAU hosts competitions in dozens of sports across the country. This summer alone, hundreds of thousands of children competed in AAU events for elite young athletes: a staggering 100,000 at the world’s largest volleyball championship in Orlando, Florida; 8,000 at its storied basketball championships at Disney World; more than 15,000 at the Junior Olympics in Iowa.

To the hundreds of thousands of parents whose children play under the red, white and blue AAU badge, the organization offers more than a place to compete. The AAU promises their children will be safe — that its coaches are vetted, monitored and trained; that strict rules govern how adults interact with children; and that it responds effectively to allegations of abuse within its ranks.