Janna Hamaker Named National Rules Director
Posted: January 26, 2018 03:38 PM
Colorado Springs, Colo. (Jan. 26, 2018) – USA Ultimate, the national governing body for the sport of ultimate in the United States, is excited to announce that Janna Hamaker was recently named the new National Rules Director and, with the newly forming Rules Working Group, will take on development of the 12th Edition Rules of Ultimate.
Hamaker has been an active member of the ultimate community for nearly 20 years, first in Mississippi and Alabama before moving to the Seattle area and playing in local leagues as well as with D’oh! in the mixed division. She has been an observer since 2004 and has served as part of the Observer Working Group and as an observer instructor for over 10 years. Hamaker was also certified as a World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) game advisor in 2017 and worked at the World Games last summer. She is the head game advisor for the upcoming WFDF World Junior Ultimate Championships, set to be held in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in August. In her professional life, she is a software engineer at Amazon.
In the immediate future, Hamaker will focus on forming the Rules Working Group. The group will begin their work by reviewing and updating existing rules revision policies before beginning revisions to the existing rulebook. Initial topics of discussion will include dangerous plays, formalizing the contact call and 20-yard end zone change and areas of potential alignment with WFDF’s current rules of play, among others.
"I am excited to begin working with the Rules Working Group and SOAR Committee on revising the USAU Rules of Ultimate," said Hamaker. "I've been interested in the study of rules and their nuances over the years as an observer, so am looking forward to the challenges facing us."
Development of the 12th edition rules is expected to take the better part of the 2018 calendar year, so rules changed in the new edition will not affect play for any competition division in 2018. A final publication date is not yet set, but no matter when the 12th edition is released, players and coaches will have ample time to become familiar with and adjust to any changes before the rules are used in official USA Ultimate competition.
USA Ultimate would like to extend sincere thanks to the outgoing members of the Standing Rules Committee (now the Rules Working Group) who have donated their time and expertise for many years: Lorne Beckman, Peri Kurshan, Mark Moran and Sholom Simon, as well as outgoing chair Colin McIntyre and former chair Jon Baumann, both of whom will continue on in advisory roles.
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