Stack up, stack down

>> Cups keep kids in complete concentration

PYRAMID SCHEMES: Kayla Chevalier (above and bottom)

by ERIK LEIJON
Photos by WILL LEW

Never before have such tiny hands moved so quickly. Last Sunday in Pincourt, 128 elementary school students from seven schools gathered in the Edgewater Elementary School gymnasium to participate in the sixth annual edition of the latest trend in quasi-sports: cup stacking.

Already a big deal in the United States, where it has an official governing body, the World Sport Stacking Association (WSSA), sport stacking, as it’s now called, is an activity where players make different pyramidal formations with 12 special plastic cups as fast as possible. The cups have small perforations on the bottom to enable airflow and are distinctly shaped so they don’t stick to each other. The cups begin in a rested position where they are on top of each other, then the player must make the pre-determined stack formation (called the up-stack), followed by returning them to their original set-up (down-stack).

Embraced by faculty

Nobody understood pogs or devil sticks when they came out either, and sport stacking could be considered equally preposterous in concept, but instead of having their cups confiscated by market-campaign-resistant faculty members, physical education teachers like Edgewater Elementary’s Joel Fitleberg are embracing stacking—and even fitting it into the syllabus, if only for two weeks out of the school year. According to Fitleberg, stacking has helped with the students’ hand-eye coordination, their concentration and their ambidexterity.

“It’s great for the students because they have to learn to use both sides of their body,” says Fitleberg, aka Mr. Fi. “When we play basketball, they learn to dribble and shoot but they tend to have a dominant side. It’s the first thing you notice when you try stacking—you tend to not want to use [your less-dominant hand], but both hands need to work equally well.”

One of the forms the students learn is the 3-6-3, where three stacks with three, six and three cups respectively must be stacked into pyramids one after the other. This year’s fastest 3-6-3 was done in 3.88 seconds. The most difficult test is the cycle stack, which requires three different up-stacks, the 3-6-3, the 6-6 and the 1-10-1, to be done in succession. Any of these categories can also be done in groups.

A fellow physical education teacher introduced Fitleberg to the activity in 2001 after it was shown at an American Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance conference, and he made Edgewater the first elementary school in Canada to have students purchase their own official cups that same year. The school now has around 70 sets of their own and Mr. Fi has adapted the rules to include more sportive elements such as running and push-ups, but he appreciates the universal appeal of stacking.

“I often see students who don’t excel in other sports excelling here. Sometimes the students who perhaps don’t run as fast or don’t have the best depth perception are the top stackers.”

GOING FOR 1-10-1: Kevin Lax-kew

Taking tips from the experts

Although a stacking set—12 cups, a table with a timer and instructional DVD—retails for $30 (U.S.) on the Speed Stacks Web site (which is affiliated with the WSSA), parents, children and schools have been receptive. For parents such as Tricia Lax, a Pincourt resident with five children (four of whom attend Edgewater), the allure of stacking’s fluorescent cups is enough to break the debilitating spell television has on our youth. “I hate having the television on or them playing electronic games—I’m against having them sit there and be brain-dead.” We simultaneously turn to her kindergarten-aged son Kevin, who appears entranced in his stacking. “[Stacking] really stimulates them and gives them a good feeling rather than just having them stare off into space.”

Never having focused of anything as intently as young Kevin, I decided to put my TV-afflicted brain to the test and impress some young people at the same time with my nimble hands of fury. Not the case though, as Mr. Fi was right—my left hand proved unresponsive, sending the bright cups to the table with a resounding thud. “You have to concentrate on the cups and nothing else,” Edgewater sixth-grader Austin Beauchamp advises.

What is misleading about the 3-6-3 formation is in the middle set, because you have to pull out one more cup than is needed; otherwise it’s impossible to complete the top of the pyramid. Around half-a-minute later it was apparent I wouldn’t crack Beauchamp’s usual time of six seconds. I also tried the 3-3-3-3 formation, which is slightly easier. The most difficult single up-stack might be the 1-10-1, since players must remove the cups from the resting position quickly and effectively.

As seen on ESPN

There isn’t a formal Canadian stacking organization and Fitleberg has no intention of spearheading one. He was invited to attend the WSSA World Sport Stacking Championships in Denver (its annual home) in 2002, and this year a team from Kingston, Ontario represented Canada at the Worlds in April.

As successful as stacking has become, the stench of novelty can be a difficult one to remove, even if the highlights of the yearly World Championships have been re-broadcast in a condensed format on the American cable sports channel ESPN. Children can be a fickle bunch and it’s difficult to gauge whether sport stacking has the staying power to warrant its moniker or will become as passé as super soakers and zubaz pants.

Purcell Academy physical education teacher Rebecca Wilson brought a 40-student contingent of stackers to the Edgewater tournament, and plans on continuing to teach stacking, whether or not it remains en vogue. “They may never cup-stack again, but at least it was something they could do now and try out while they are young,” she says. “I don’t know how much staying power it will have, but I’ll always include it in my class since it’s something different.”

Perhaps a good omen for the sports’ future, three high-schoolers participated on Sunday, and teens/tweens are typically too self-conscious to partake in anything deemed uncool.

Mr. Fi also believes there’s more than meets the eye with stacking. “You can’t explain the sport,” he says. “If I can show you a 10-second video then you’ll be able to appreciate the skill and speed involved.”