On your mark, get set, go!
A group of second-grade students at Dolores Elementary School ran as fast as they could toward a set of cups inside the Little Bear Gymnasium last Thursday.
Their mission: Break a world record in cup stacking.
Cup stacking may sound like a weird thing to be doing in a physical education class, but it’s a growing sport in which students up-stack and down-stack 12 specially designed cups call Speed Stacks in predetermined sequences as fast as they can.
In fact, the sport is so popular, over 555,932 people from all around the world were expected to stack cups to set the record for the Guinness Book of World Records as the most number of stackers in one day in different locations.
Physical Education Teacher Ann Sanford has been participating in the cup stacking event since 2006, when the world record was 81,252 .
“We’ve done this every year,” Sanford said.
But it just isn’t stacking cups that draws Sanford to the sport.
“If you are doing it right, you use both sides of your brain. It encourages bilateral thinking,” she said.
In addition, Sanford makes the kids stack the cups relay-style. They run to the cups, stack them and then run off to tag a classmate. That classmate then down stacks the cup and then tags another classmate and so on.
And the students on Thursday, they couldn’t get the grins off their faces, because not only were they excited to be breaking a world record, but they also just seemed to love stacking cups.
“I like how high the cups get sometimes,” said Tristan Grooms, 8. “It’s also relaxing. You don’t have to go super fast. You can go at your own speed.”
Sport stacking with Speed Stacks is in more than 40,000 schools and youth organizations worldwide. It’s appealing to teachers and students because it’s easy to learn but very challenging to master. Benefits include improved reaction time, hand-eye coordination, concentration and focus. The World Sport Stacking Association is the governing body for sport stacking and promotes Stack meets, leagues and tournaments around the world.
“Sport stacking is an activity enjoyed by all ages and cultures. It promotes hand-eye coordination, brain activation, fitness, teamwork, speed and lots of fun,” Bob Fox, WSSA founder and executive director, said in a release.
Once a group completed 30 minutes of stacking for each participant anytime on Nov. 13, the organizer and a witness are required to send in an online verification of numbers to the WSSA. Just over 120 students at Dolores Elementary School participated. As of Monday, it looked like last year’s record had been broken, but numbers were still be tabulated, Sanford said.
Kyleigh Shilko, 8, said she feels calm when stacking cups.
“It was kind of difficult at first, but when I figured it out, it was pretty easy,” she said. “It’s really cool and I feel my school can help break the record.”