Sumac students stack up for record
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

FASTER, FASTER- Juliet Risko, a fifth-grader at Sumac Elementary School, is the table winner at the speed stacking competition held at the school and nationwide on Nov. 8. HiIlary Boss, who teaches the combination fourthand fifth-grade class, entered her students in a competition for the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest number of people stacking at the same time. The record reportedly was broken, but Guinness hasn't yet announced the total number of participants in the contest. STEPHANIE BERTHOLDO Acorn Newspapers

Simple games are oftentimes the most fun for children.

"Speed stacking" provides plenty of uncomplicated fun for children (and adults), and offers the added attraction of being a global competitive sport that also fulfills a physical education requirement.

Nov. 8 was National Speed Stacking Day, and children in Hilary Boss' fourth- and fifth-grade class at Sumac Elementary School competed in "Stack Up," a worldwide event to be included in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The competition's aim is to have as many people as possible compete in the cup-stacking game at multiple locations in one day.

The classroom competition was conducted in Sumac's multipurpose room. Students participated in teams and raced to improve the time it took to stack colorful cups in various prescribed patterns.

Boss uses the game to drive home many lessons. The sport, she said, promotes eyehand coordination, sharpens concentration, develops sequencing skills and even supports math concepts, especially the use of decimals. Children whack a timer mat before and after they stack the lightweight cups, yielding an ending time calculated to the 100th place.

"Any child can do it," Boss said of the game she likes. "Kids of any athletic ability can do well."

All of the skills practiced during the stacking game, including the fast-paced movement of arms stacking cups into pyramids, add up to a health benefit, Boss said. So much so that the game is now considered a sport and participation meets P.E. requirements set by the state.

Besides exercising minds and arms, children at Sumac were so anxious to take their turn that many couldn't contain their excitement and jumped up and down while they waited for their turn to stack.

"I think it's really fun," said fifthgrader Juliet Risko, who defended the game as a bona fide sport. "It is a sport," she insisted.

But for Boss, cup stacking offers much more than a sports opportunity. She peppered the competition with math questions about place value, while gently reminding the children not to destroy the cups.

"Sometimes the faster we go the harder we are on the cups," Boss said.

After several rounds of competition, students seemed satisfied with their personal times. Boss said the game has become so popular that many students practice during recess and lunch.

The stacking game was invented in 1980 in Oceanside, Calif. by "some kids and a youth director messing around with Styrofoam coffee cups during an after-school program," said Matt Reed, executive director of the World Sport Stacking Association in Colorado.

"They created some patterns and naturally started racing," Reed said of the children. But Bob Fox, a Colorado teacher, is credited with taking the impromptu kid's game to the current national craze. Fox saw children demonstrating the sport on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" in 1990, incorporated the game into his physical education class and launched a company in his basement, Reed said.

"He called it Speed Stacks," Reed said. "He realized the possibilities, and step by step grew it school by school," Reed said.

Apparently the stacking game has gone through some growing pains. "The World Sport Stacking Association changed the name from "Cup Stacking" to "Sport Stacking" in 2005 so it would be recognizable as a competitive sport.

At the close of registration Nov. 7, the number of stackers signed up for the "Stack Up' was 168,226, according to the association. Reed verified that people from 11 countries participated in the challenge to beat the total in the 2006 Guinness Book of World Records. Although the final numbers have not been released, Reed said the 2006 record of 81,000 participants was broken Nov. 8.