This National Youth Sports Organization Is Failing to Protect Kids From Sexual Abuse

Ashlee Orndorff played basketball as a teen. 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.