American Youth Football (AYF) is an international nonprofit youth football organization founded in 1996 to promote the wholesome development of youth through their association with adult leaders in the sport of American football. AYF invites all youth programs to join and participate, without restricting weights or sizes of participants, leagues, financial abilities, or any other biases.

With 700,000 participants, 90,000 coaches, and 40,000 administrators, AYF has become the largest football organization on any level of the sport.

Joe Galat serves as the president of AYF. He is also employed by FieldTurf Tarkett as vice president of sales and dean of the FieldTurf Sports Science Institute. Joe’s leadership began early as captain of the Harvey High School (Painesville, Ohio) and Miami University (Ohio) football and wrestling teams. At Miami University, he was elected president of the Varsity Letterman’s Club and was named Outstanding Student Athlete in his senior year. Playing honors included selections to the All-Ohio All-Star High School Team and All-Mid-American Conference. Joe’s football experience was honed by some of the game’s greats: Bo Schembechler, Carm Cozza, and John McVay. When Pro Football Hall of Fame coach George Allen was owner of Montreal, he appointed Joe to be his head coach. Joe then went on to become head coach and general manager of the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League. He coached college football at Miami University, Yale University, University of Kentucky, and Youngstown State University, and in the pros with the New York Giants and Houston Oilers. In 1982, Joe was inducted into the Miami University Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Painesville Harvey High School Hall of Fame (along with the NFL's winningest coach, Don Shula). After his coaching days, Joe was national color commentator for CBC-TV Sports. This experience gave him the distinction of having held every position in organized football (player, coach, manager, broadcaster, and youth executive). Joe has participated in youth football clinics in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and throughout Europe and Russia. Joe was also honored as a Kentucky Colonel by Governor Wendell Ford.

ASEP has been developing and delivering coaching education courses since 1981. As the nation’s leader in providing coaching education programs, ASEP works with national, state, and local sport organizations to develop educational programs for coaches, officials, administrators, and parents. These programs incorporate ASEP’s philosophy of “Athletes first, winning second.”

Adopting Organizations