Now that we’re nearly a week away from the start of the postseason in girls gymnastics, it’s a good time to applaud the work of a pair of sports writers who love the sport. For the past few years, Hinsdale Doings writer Bill Stone and former Suburban-Life writer Mike Considine have compiled gymnastics results, applied mathematical comparisons and distributed the figures to any one who wants them over their Web site. God do these guys love gymnastics, so State Gymnastics Stats was born.
Mike created the Web site, initially using a Web-building service with his internet provider, but switched to Tripod.com when I suggested to him that it was easier to use and FREE. It’s the same Web builder I use for my fantasy football league. Of course, the site comes with ads, and Mike has added a disclaimer to his pages, but did I mention it was free? The SGS boys do not charge for their service and don’t even ask for donations. They do all the work, and there is lots, for the love of the sport.
Some of their mathematical formulas have even been adopted by the IHSA in producing seeds for regional and sectional meets. For the gymnastics junkie, SGS will keep you busy. There are pages upon pages of stats. Bill and Mike have created a network of coaches that constantly send in results from their meets, even dual meets.
I have known Bill for over 20 years and have even been with him to a meet where he has discovered a miscalculation in the results. Mike left sports writing about a year ago, but continues to put out stats from his new home in San Antonio. He hasn’t left sports writing entirely. I was told he covered a few high school football games for the Express down there.
The first regional meets are at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 2 at Stevenson, Glenbard North and Hersey. If you need the numbers crunched, Bill and Mike will be all over it.
