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Benton students ‘Stack Up’ |
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Friday, 13 November 2009 |
Hundreds of children’s hands moved as fast as they could Thursday, and feet ran from one table to the next doing nothing more than stacking cups, or so it seemed. matt burks / Courier Fifth-grader Parker Landreth concentrates on stacking sport cups at Howard Perrin Elementary School on Thursday as part of the 2009 Word Sport Stacking Association “Stack Up!” event. The school joined thousands of others from every state and 13 other countries in an attempt to break a Guinness Book of World Records for the most people sport stacking at multiple locations in one day. by Matt Burks
Overall 153 students at Howard Perrin Elementary School in Benton participated in the 2009 World Sport Stacking Association “Stack Up!” event throughout the school day in an attempt to help break a world record. The students joined thousands of other children from every U.S. state and 13 other countries with a common goal: to set a new world record for the most people sport stacking at multiple locations in one day.
According to the WSSA, this is the fourth year for the event. In the 2008 event, 222,560 stackers represented 1,343 schools or organizations to set the Guinness world record. The WSSA’s goal was to have 250,000 participate to beat the record. The WSSA and Wonderful Pistachios company sponsored the event.
Howard Perrin physical education teacher Susan Covington, coordinator of Benton’s participation, said the students will probably find out if they broke the record next week when all the information is gathered. She said her school was the only one in the Benton School District to participate in the event and believes only six other schools in the state participated. Next year, Covington said more schools are sure to participate as the word spreads about the world-wide event.
“I didn’t even know about this myself until I found a flyer on my desk,” she said. “After looking it over I went online and filled out an application for my students to participate.”
Though they are new to the Guinness Book of World Records feat, they are no strangers to the growing sport of stacking cups. Covington said the first sport stacking cups were brought into the school gymnasium four years ago and the students never looked back.
“Most of the students really enjoy it,” She said. “Some like it so much that I occasionally hear from parents wanting to know where to get the official sport cups at so they can get it for their kids at home.”
Covington said sport stacking is fun and competitive for students. She said there are also physical and mental skills to be learned.
“It really helps them with hand and eye coordination, as well as fitness and can even teach them teamwork when they work together,” she said. “Also, a lot of our school plans is to work on both the left and right brain functions, and this really gets into that. We also do a lot of running activities with the sport stacking as they go from one table to the next and it can also really help their self esteem and confidence.”
According to the WSSA Web site, the sport “was formed in 2001 for the purpose of promoting and governing sport stacking around the world. The sport originated in the 1980’s and is practiced in more than 30,000 schools and youth organizations across the globe, promoting hand-eye coordination, ambidexterity, quickness, concentration and fun. The WSSA governs the sport.”
The pinnacle of the sport stacking competitions, the Web site said, is the World Sport Stacking Championships held each spring in Denver, Colo. The championship draws competitors from across the globe.
On Thursday, the participants in the event stacked the sport cups on top of each other, then brought them back down as fast as they could. The stacking was timed, and each student stacked cups for close to 30 minutes at various times throughout the school day.
Covington said stacking is often combined with other physical activities such as running, sit ups, and even push ups. And the children, most of them anyway, seem to rather enjoy the sport.
For more information about the World Sport Stacking Association and the Guinness Book or World Records “Stack Up!” competition visit www.worldsportstackingassociation.org.
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