La Monte students join in a cup-stacking record attempt

Dozens of small hands worked quickly to stack brightly-colored cups into pyramids before deftly breaking them down and starting again.

La Monte students in kindergarten through fifth grade took part in a nationwide attempt to set a new sport stacking Guinness World Record on Thursday. The students — along with thousands of others across the United States — competed in the World Stacking Association’s contest to stack specially designed plastic cups into pyramids and then tear them down into one column of cups.

The event was sponsored by the World Sport Stacking Association.

“The Guinness event is a great platform to bring together sport stackers across the globe,” Mark Lingle, WSSA director, said.

The official tally — and whether the students make it into the record book — won’t be known for a few days.
Sport stacking, which is also known as cup stacking or speed stacking, is an individual and team activity where competitors race against the clock to complete a sequence of stacks. According to worldsportstacking.org, sport stacking originated in the early 1980s in southern California and received national attention in 1990 on a segment of “ The Tonight Show,” with Johnny Carson.

John Curry, La Monte elementary physical education teacher, said he learned about sport stacking five years ago at a conference he attended.

“I was looking for an indoor activity,” Curry said.

Curry began teaching cup stacking during summer school and has been using it ever since.

“The kids love it,” he said, “and some are really good at it.”

Curry said the ambidextrous activity promotes hand-eye coordination.

“The kids have to use both hands to stack cups,” Curry said, “so they are using both sides of their brain. Cup stacking also bolsters teamwork and a healthy competitive spirit.”

The activity also helps students develop bilateral proficiency, or equal performance on both sides of the body. By increasing bilateral proficiency, a student develops a greater percentage of the right side of the brain, which houses awareness, focus, creativity and rhythm. Curry said stacking helps train the brain for sports and other activities where the use of both hands is important, such as playing a musical instrument or using the computer. Sequencing and patterning are also important elements of sport stacking, which can help with reading and math skills.

Curry said the activity is perfect for both boys and girls.

“About 70 percent of our top 10 stackers are girls,” he said. “It takes hard work and persistence.”

On Thursday afternoon, 6-year-old kindergartner Brett Green and his classmates practiced stacking six cups into two three-cup pyramids before participating in relay races.

“It is so fun,” Brett said.