(Revised and updated on March 6, 2010)

GIRLS’ AAU TRYOUTS

In order to comply with Michigan AAU procedures and be protected by AAU insurance, you should do the following:

You must advertise your tryouts and they must be open to all interested parties. You should advertise in at least two different written media or the same written media twice. Make sure that you give time, place, and date of tryouts. Your announcement should also include what the tryout fee is and who to contact with any questions.

Only AAU members are eligible to tryout for AAU teams. This rule is in effect because of the insurance coverage. Young ladies trying out for your team(s) should fill out a membership application and pay the tryout fee before entering the gymnasium. All of your coaches should also be AAU members. All players and coaches are required to have the AB (added benefits) cards which are $14 for players and $16 for coaches. If all participating parties are AAU members, then everyone is covered by the AAU insurance. The insurance is secondary medical coverage (it becomes primary if the insured has no other insurance) and also covers liability. If you are a coach or club organizer, you will sleep much more peacefully knowing that you have millions of dollars in liability coverage. Accidents do happen – unfortunately – and you need to be protected.

The participants are covered from the moment they pay the AAU membership (which should be included in your tryout fee). We suggest that you register all of those who tried out as soon as possible (that same night would be good). You can register on the web at the National AAU website: www.aausports.org  Click on the "Join Now – Membership Information" and follow the instructions. Your AAU cards will be printed instantly on your printer. Do not procrastinate any longer than a day or two to register your players and coaches – you have already collected the money. Put the registrations on your credit card and reimburse yourself from your tryout fees. If something should happen causing you to make a claim on a date before you registered the injured party – it will be hard to explain to the insurance company.

You will need to obtain the following information on each of your players in order to register them on the internet:

Name
Address
City
State
Zip code
e-mail address
Date of birth
Home phone number
Work phone number
Club name and number 

With this information you can register your players and coaches on line. The AAU membership cards will be printed out instantly on your printer. These cards are accepted as proof of AAU membership.

Any players who tried out for your club but were not selected should be given their cards as soon as possible. I would suggest that the cards and birth certificates of selected players be kept together in a notebook. The coach and/or team parent should keep possession of the notebook. Officials may ask to see both documents to authenticate AAU membership at AAU sanctioned events.

6) It is important that Club Organizers understand that everyone trying out for their teams must be an AAU member. If non-AAU members are allowed to participate, it may void the insurance. Play it safe – protect yourself and your players by making sure that they are all AAU members by following the above procedures. Register them on the net as soon as possible.

(Updated March 6, 2010)

AGE DIVISIONS IN AAU

There are nine age divisions in AAU girls’ basketball. There is a division for every year beginning at age 9. The nine divisions would be: 9:U (nine and under),10:U, 11:U, 12:U, 13:U, 14:U, 15:U, 16:U (now-2006- called the "Junior Division"), and 18:U (now - 2006-called the Senior Division").

The cut-off date was changed at the National AAU Convention in 2008 from July 1 back to the January 1 date. The "junior eligible rule" was also extended through all of the age divisions. For all practical purposes, AAU Girls' Basketball is a "grade based" organization but they refuse to identify the age divisions by grade - preferring instead the age number (12:U, 15:U,,,etc.)

The "junior eligible rule" has been in effect since 1994. It allowed a girl that turned 17 before January 1 of the next year to still play with the 16:U division as long as she was still a junior. By extending this rule through all of the age divisions, girls that have late birthdays (November, December) are now eligible to play in the same age division as all of their classmates.

Friendship games (tournaments) can be an exception to the rule. Frequently we will have teams that are a combination of age groups. A 7^th grade team may have players that are 12 and 13 years old. It may have 9 players that are 12 and one player that is 13. In the DQT’s this team would have to play in the age group of its oldest player (13). But in friendship games where the primary interest is competition, this team is usually allowed to play at 12 (with the permission of the tournament host). Elite teams are commonly playing "up" in friendship tournaments and developing teams are often playing "down". Friendship games are an opportunity to play against good competition. There are usually no trophies, no records are kept, no teams can qualify for anything from playing in friendship tournaments – so the real interest is in matching up teams that are competitive against one another.

If you have a team of multiple ages, make sure you discuss it with the tournament host so that your team will be properly placed. All of us want good competitive games when we play at friendship tournaments. There is no useful purpose playing teams that you will beat by 30 points or visa versa.