Elementary cup stackers join in world event

Want to help your kids read better?

Have them stack plastic cups, said Karen Crockett, who coaches the cup stacking team at Woodmen Hills Elementary School.

On Thursday, her "team" grew to include all 600 Woodmen students, who joined the effort to help cup-stacking enthusiasts from around the world break last year’s Guinness World Record of 222,560 participants stacking cups in one day.  

The gym was a madhouse with hands moving cups so lightning fast it was hard to follow them. There also was an obstacle course to double the fun.

In tournaments, players race the clock individually in age divisions with several configurations of cups that they stack up and down. World records are videotaped and can only be set during World Sport Stacking Association competition. The present world records are held by an 11-year-old who had scores ranging from 1.8 seconds to 5.93 seconds.

Anything under 20 seconds will get a student on the Woodmen team. Six-year-olds Corbin Allen and Eric Flack last year placed in the five-year-old division at  the world championship finals. Corbin, says the trick is to “use shortcuts.” Flack’s secret is in hand and arm movements. They practice about 20 minutes a day.

“It’s more fun than computer games because you move faster,” Flack said. Some kids stack in their bare feet for good traction.

Crockett, a music teacher, wears a  button that says “Cup Noise: Music to my Ears.” She says studies say the sport helps with reading because both sides of the brain are used, and movements mimic the left to right, right to left directions of reading. The game is also good for hand-eye coordination.

Her students stack before achievement tests to warm up.

Bob Fox invented the competitive game in 2001 in his Denver basement. He heads Speed Stacks Inc., which sells the mats, cups and timers.

Kids have stacking heroes, such as Fox’s daughter Emily Fox, now a professional basketball player, who broke several records.

It’s no wonder that Crockett panicked when for a minute she couldn’t find her own set of  cups. “They were personally signed by Emily Fox, “ she explained, not a bit sheepishly.