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Girls Gymnastics Committee Welcomes New Members

By Jessie Benner, NFHS on September 25, 2023 gymnastics-girls article Print

NFHS rules writing committees consist of experts in the given sport. Each committee member is nominated by state associations, as is the chairperson, who guides the members through their work. Various NFHS sections are represented on the given rules committee. To allow for equal representation, there is also a member of the NFHS Coaches Association and the NFHS Officials Association on each rules committee. These new committee members will serve until 2029.

The NFHS is pleased to welcome three new members of the Girls Gymnastics Rules Committee: Steve Cunningham, Sue Hamre, and Janie Ulmer.

Steve Cunningham, NFHS Coaches Association, has been teaching health and physical education and coaching for over 40 years. Steve is the Head Varsity Boys Cross Country Coach and Head Varsity Girls Gymnastics Coach at Pace Academy where he also chairs the Physical Education Department. Steve is married to the love of his life (Jolie), and they have one daughter, Callie, who is also in education.

Sue Hamre, Section 5, has been involved in gymnastics since the early 1970's as a gymnast, teacher, coach, judge and clinician. She began officiating while she was in college at South Dakota State University, where she earned her BS and MS Degrees in Education. A high school gymnastics judge for 45 years, she also coached for 12 of those years.

Sue served as President of the SD High School Gymnastics Coaches Association and as President of the SD High School Gymnastics Judges Association. In 1999 she received the National Federation Active Official of the Year Award from her peers, and the Judges Leadership Award from the SD High School Coaches Association in 2012. A judge for 25 SD State High School Gymnastics Meets, Sue acted as State Meet Referee in 2013 and 2014.

Married for 39 years, Sue and her husband Larry are the proud parents of two adult daughters, Megan (Andrew) and Sarah (Adam).

Janie Ulmer, Section 4, is a career educator and current Assistant Commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association. Previously, Ulmer spent five years with Hamilton Southeastern Schools, the last two as the principal at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers.  Prior to that, Ulmer spent 24 years in the LaPorte Community School Corporation in northwest Indiana.

Ulmer is a 1989 graduate of Valparaiso University earning a bachelor's degree in mathematics with a minor in Secondary Education. She went on to earn a master's degree in educational leadership from American College of Education in Chicago in 2012. She is an alumnus of La Porte High School in La Porte, IN where she was a member of the Slicers’ varsity girls basketball team, later serving as an assistant coach, and helped in a supporting role with the baseball team under late Hall of Fame coach Ken Schreiber.