PRE-ORDER MEDAL LANYARD APPLICATION DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 30th, 2014

First I would like to thank you for hosting AAU Licensed events in your District!

The end of the 2014 calendar year is quickly approaching us and we need your help ordering 2015 lanyards for your leftover medals. We would like for you to count your leftover medals and submit to us the number of 2015 lanyards you would like to order for the coming year. By purchasing these lanyards you will be able to utilize your leftover medals next year and save yourself lots of money.

If you pre-order your 2015 Lanyards and send your order to the National Office by Tuesday, September 30th, 2014 you will receive the lanyards for .75 cents each. After the pre-order special is over the lanyards will be $1.00 each.

Linked here is the order form with directions on how to submit your order.

CONNECTICUT CROSS COUNTRY DISTRICT QUALIFIER

The New Haven Age Group Track Club is hosting the Connecticut Cross Country District Qualifier on October 19th, 2014 at East Shore Park in New Haven, CT. The entry fee for those that pre-register is $9 and must be completed by October 16th. Afterwards, the entry fee will increase to $18. The deadline for post-registration is October 19th by 9:30AM EST.

For more information on how to register for the Connecticut Cross Country District Qualifier, please visit www.aauathletics.org or CLICK HERE.

START AN ICE HOCKEY PROGRAM IN YOUR AREA TODAY!

For more information check out this fantastic promo video, or visit www.aauhockey.org.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS UP FOR BID

The AAU Wrestling Committee has National Championship Events up for bid for 2015 & 2016! The events that are available for bid are the Frosh/Soph National Duals, the Ironman Folkstyle World Championship, and the Tournament of Real Champions.

The Frosh/Soph National Duals is a relatively new event to the AAU Wrestling program. The event is a team based event open only to Freshmen and Sophomores. Teams consist of 15 weight classes with up to 3 alternates, 3 coaches, and 2 table workers. The entry fee for this event is $800 per team.

The Ironman Folkstyle World Championship is a three style event (Greco-Roman, Folkstyle, and Freestyle) where the participants earn points for their placement in each style. The overall highest point total in each age group is crowned the "Ironman". The estimated entry fee for this event is $40 per participant.

The basis of the Tournament of Real Champions is that every participant won a tournament, any tournament, anywhere. Depending on interest, the event could have two divisions: Anyone winning a National/Regional event and anyone who won a State/Local event. The Tournament of Real Champions will begin as a one day event with plans to grow into a two day event within the first two years. The estimated entry fee for this event will be $40 per participant.

For more information on these events, or to receive a bid packet, please contact the National Office at 407-934-7200.

2014 AAU JOEL FERRELL AWARD – KUNG FU

Joel Ferrell Award Winner for Kung-Fu

Kung-Fu is pleased to announce the winner of this year's Joel Ferrell Award presented to Ty Roberts, from American Wellness Center in South Texas. The Joel Ferrell Award is presented each year to an athlete who demonstrates outstanding athletic accomplishments and sportsmanship. This year's award was presented by Dave Pickens, AAU Kung-Fu National Co-Chair.

Dave Pickens stated, "As one of the judges, this award was tightly contested between Ty Roberts and his team mate Milabella Vasquez, both members of the Steve Star Mantis clan housed out of American Wellness Institute in Killeen, Texas. During the day both were seen exhibiting good sportsmanship by cheering all competitors on, smiling, making friends and in general keeping the spirits up of the entire group of competitors."

Each competitor in the running for the Joel Ferrell Award swept their respective fields of gold medals in multi divisions with Ty capturing six (6) Gold medals. One judge said if we could not arrive at a winner we should flip a coin because both had impressed him that much!

Dave Pickens has watched Ty since he was 6 years old and believes this young man has been a constant top competitor along with always displaying that friendly smile and the grace of a true sportsman. His control and complete dominance in continuous light contact sparring along with the outstanding ability to t deliver his techniques and retreat without having a strike or kick against him was the final attribute earning him my vote for the first Joel Ferrell award issued to a Kung Fu competitor. Someday this young man will be a leader and we will all say we knew him when!

The Joel Ferrell award winner showed exemplary sportsmanship during the entire event and we are looking forward to a great event next year in Virginia!

2014 AAU JOEL FERRELL AWARD WINNER – GYMNASTICS

Katie Thompson is the newest recipient of the AAU Joel Ferrell Outstanding Performance Award at the 2014 AAU Junior Olympic Games!

This award is honoring Joel Ferrell, former AAU President and Vice President of the US Olympic Committee, who was also a chair of the AAU Junior Olympic Program for many years. Upon his death, the AAU and the Ferrell family implemented the AAU Joel Ferrell Outstanding Performance Memorial Award in his honor. This most prestigious award recognizes outstanding athletic accomplishments and sportsmanship of an athlete representing each official sport at the AAU Junior Olympic Games.

Thompson is from the Missouri Valley AAU district and recently graduated from Concordia High School in Concordia, Kansas. She has been participating in the AAU for the last eight years. She is currently a Level 7 gymnast at the Concordia Gymnastics Center. Susan Krier, the owner of the gymnastics center, said Thompson is the first athlete at the gym to compete through her senior year. Thompson's coach, Kelsey Baker, said Katie has an amazing work ethic and is always on time and ready to work. Baker adds that Thompson "always has a positive attitude and is willing to work hard to reach her gymnastics goals."

"Gymnastics makes me very busy," Thompson said. "It has taught me to manage my time and make schedules and lists so that I can get everything done on time."

Despite how busy her schedule is with gymnastics, she also manages to find time to participate in the Marching/Concert Band, Cross Country, Year Book Staff, SADD, Foreign Language Club and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She is also active in her church and community. She is a member of the local 4-H club, church youth group, puppet ministry team and active in mission trips for the past two summers, all while maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA.

Now, Katie will be traveling to Lincoln, Nebraska to attend the University of Nebraska. She is planning on majoring in business and hopes to open her own gymnastics center someday.

Good luck in all of your future endeavors, Katie, and congratulations on being named the 2014 AAU Joel Ferrell Award Winner!

2014 AAU JOEL FERRELL AWARD WINNER – WRESTLING

Austin Assad is this year's AAU Joel Ferrell Award winner for the sport of Wrestling at the 2014 AAU Junior Olympic Games! The seventeen year old is from Broadview Heights, Ohio and competes with the Brecksville Ohio Wrestling Club. The 11th grader at Brecksville High School was named the 2014 Fargo Junior Freestyle National Champion and has three Fargo All-American honors, along with earning FILA All-American honors twice.

Along with earning the Joel Ferrell Award this year, his other AAU accomplishments include earning three gold medals. In this year's AAU Junior Olympic Games competition, he had a 17-0 record, 15 tech falls and gave up only seven points in the entire competition while racking up 166 total points.

Joel Ferrell, a former AAU President and Vice President of the US Olympic Committee, was a chair of the AAU Junior Olympic Program for many years. Upon his death, the AAU and the Ferrell family implemented the AAU Joel Ferrell Outstanding Performance Memorial Award in his honor. This most prestigious award recognizes outstanding athletic accomplishments and sportsmanship of an athlete representing each official sport at the AAU Junior Olympic Games.

Congratulations to Austin and good luck in all of your future endeavors!

2014 JOEL FERRELL AWARD – SWIMMING

Male Recipient

Georges Ghafari is the male recipient of the 2014 AAU Joel Ferrell Award in the Swimming portion of the 2014 AAU Junior Olympic Games! Ghafari, 10, began swimming at the age of five after his mother encouraged him to. She participated in several swimming events at the professional level. His family, of Lebanese nationality, currently resides in Saudi Arabia.

In his short swimming career, he has competed in several regional competitions, like the Hamilton Aquatics in Dubai; the H2O swimming meet in Qatar, Oman Open Swimming Competition, and the Lebanese National Championship. He also won the Saudi Kingdom Swimming Championship in every age category he participated in. Ghafari already possesses more than 200 gold medals and 25 trophies and carries fourteen records, four of which are national!

Because of his success, this year he set his sights on traveling to the United States to compete in the 2014 AAU Junior Olympic Games. Ghafari's team, the Arabian Falcons, used to send a batch of swimmers to the United States to participate in the AAU Junior Olympic Games but Georges never had the opportunity to come until now. After a sixteen hour flight to the United States, Ghafari was ready to compete in the 2014 AAU Junior Olympic Games.

Not only did he compete, he conquered. After the swimming competition was over, Georges walked away with a total of five gold, three silver and one bronze medal with a total of 167 points, earning him first place honors in the 10 and under age group. He was also the proud owner of the 2014 AAU Joel Ferrell Award, which recognizes outstanding accomplishments and sportsmanship of an athlete representing each official sport at the AAU Junior Olympic Games.

Ghafari said he would like to compete in this event again and has a long term goal of becoming an Olympic swimmer competing at an international level.

Female Recipient

Fourteen year old Halee Riley is the female recipient of the 2014 AAU Joel Ferrell Award for Swimming in the AAU Junior Olympic Games! She also began swimming at the age of five, but not because she saw her family or friends competing, but rather characters in the cartoon show "Arthur". She told her parents she wanted to "swim race" and they signed her up at the YMCA. A few years later, she joined a local competitive club team and has been swimming club ever since.

Riley competed in the last two AAU Junior Olympic Games, but she almost missed out on attending the one in Detroit in 2013. She found out about the meet at 7pm on the day the entries were due in 2013. In a few hours, she decided to make the trip to Michigan with another swimmer from her team. By the time they had gathered all of their information, they almost missed the deadline, but fortunately, they did! She said it was a great experience for the both of them and it made them want to return this year.

It's a good thing she came back, because she dominated this competition this year! She participated on the relay team for both the 200 and 400 meter relays, winning all four and placed first in the 200 meter breaststroke. She also claimed one of the top eight spots in five other individual events along with taking home the 2014 AAU Joel Ferrell Award.

Halee said "seeing all of the hard work I put in paying off is important" and she is already planning her trip to the AAU Junior Olympic Games with her family for next year in Virginia. Her long term goals include swimming at the collegiate level and swimming Masters beyond that.

Good luck to both of the 2014 AAU Joel Ferrell Award winners and we can't wait to see what the future has in store for you both!

MEN'S INTERNATIONAL FASTPITCH CHAMPIONSHIP

Some of the best men's fastpitch players in the world will come together at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex to vie for the AAU Men's International Fastpitch Championship title January 22 – 25, 2015. Nearly half the 40-team field has already committed. Teams from Bahamas, Canada, United States, and Venezuela are already on board with more entries coming in daily. This game is a sight to see for those who have never seen men play fastpitch. The excitement begins with pool play on Thursday and Friday, elimination starts on Saturday, and the championship games are on Sunday.

REGISTRATION OPEN FOR BASEBALL GRAND NATIONALS

Registration is now open for the AAU Baseball Grand Nationals. The 9U and 10U age groups will be held June 15-20 with the 11U, 12U, and 13U immediately following on June 21-27. All games for the 2015 Grand Nationals will be played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. No offsites will be used. That means you will want to register early so you don't get shut out.

To register or to file your Intent to Participate, go to www.aaubaseball.org and click on the National Championships box.

2014 AAU GIRLS' BASKETBALL – SUMMER RECAP

AAU Girls' Basketball hit the ground running this summer with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade nationals kicking it off at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, FL! The rest of the National Championships were firing up on courts all across the United States throughout the summer! Girls' teams packed into cars, busses and planes to battle it down on the hardwood and claim their rights to the trophy, the gold and the glory! The AAU would like to congratulate ALL who participated in a National Championship this summer and we hope to see everyone back on the court in 2015 for more incredible, heart pumping AAU Basketball! A very special congratulations to all of our newly crowned AAU Girls' Basketball National Champions! Wear those medals proud, YOU EARNED IT!

For ALL DIVISION Results – CLICK HERE
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