Stop AAU From Letting Sexually Abusive Coaches Coach Kids
The Issue
The Amateur Athletic Union, or AAU, runs youth sports for over 760,000 kids and coaches nationwide.
Parents assume AAU coaches have been vetted and are safe. But a ProPublica and Washington Post investigation found the AAU doesn't have to follow bans from the U.S. Center for SafeSport, the federal system built to protect young athletes from sexual abuse.
Because SafeSport can't force the AAU's hand, coaches banned or suspended for sexual misconduct can just keep coaching AAU teams.
The investigation found at least eight coaches did exactly that in the past five years.
One volleyball coach suspended by SafeSport over abuse allegations from a former player kept coaching boys on his AAU team for months afterward. When an official warned the AAU that another coach was trying to use it to dodge a SafeSport suspension, the AAU's response, the official told reporters, was blunt: "SafeSport does not apply."
Every child on an AAU court, field, or pool deserves the same protection kids get in every other youth sports organization in the country. The AAU promised that back in 2012 and still hasn't delivered it.
Sign the petition to demand the AAU honor every SafeSport ban and suspension — before another banned coach gets a second team of kids to coach.
263
The Issue
The Amateur Athletic Union, or AAU, runs youth sports for over 760,000 kids and coaches nationwide.
Parents assume AAU coaches have been vetted and are safe. But a ProPublica and Washington Post investigation found the AAU doesn't have to follow bans from the U.S. Center for SafeSport, the federal system built to protect young athletes from sexual abuse.
Because SafeSport can't force the AAU's hand, coaches banned or suspended for sexual misconduct can just keep coaching AAU teams.
The investigation found at least eight coaches did exactly that in the past five years.
One volleyball coach suspended by SafeSport over abuse allegations from a former player kept coaching boys on his AAU team for months afterward. When an official warned the AAU that another coach was trying to use it to dodge a SafeSport suspension, the AAU's response, the official told reporters, was blunt: "SafeSport does not apply."
Every child on an AAU court, field, or pool deserves the same protection kids get in every other youth sports organization in the country. The AAU promised that back in 2012 and still hasn't delivered it.
Sign the petition to demand the AAU honor every SafeSport ban and suspension — before another banned coach gets a second team of kids to coach.
The Decision Makers
Supporter Voices
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on August 13, 2026