Stacking up for the competition

Pupils at St. Charles School took part in a world record attempt at cup stacking.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATON WRITER

BOARDMAN — Amy Vinopal of Boardman can run through a 12-cup stacking routine in about 15 or 16 seconds, enough to be declared the fastest girl stacker in her physical education class at St. Charles School.

It’s tougher than it looks, she said after running through the routine of “upstacking” and “downstacking” the dozen special cups in a strict order during which her hands were just a blur.

“I’m getting there,” the eighth-grader said, after being advised that the world record for the routine is just 7.5 seconds.

A total of 120 St. Charles pupils took part in a worldwide attempt Thursday to break the Guinness World Record for the number of people involved in sport stacking (as the practice is called) at multiple locatvions in a single day. The event was sponsored by the World Sport Stacking Association, the governing body for what is a growing phenomenon.

The pupils each spent 30 minutes stacking the special plastic cups (about the size of a standard 8- or 9-ounce cup) into designated pyramids and then unstacking them in specific order, both individually and in team competitions.

They start out with two stacks of three cups each and one stack of six, go through a pyramid-building routine using all 12, and end with the same three stacks.

It wasn’t all about speed, however.

The teams also competed in building the tallest single stack, an exercise requiring some delicate dexterity and teamwork. Some participants rode atop teammates’ shoulders to reach the top of the stack as it rose from the gym floor.

Some stacks reached heights of about seven feet before crashing to the floor.

All of those participating in Thursday’s event got a “Stack Fast” sticker from the WSSA, and the fastest boy and girl in each gym class also was awarded a special wristband.

Amy got her wristband, as did Troy Ferris of Canfield, the fastest boy in that class.

Like Amy, Troy said the stacking looks a lot easier than it really is. The faster one tries to go, the more opportunity there is to misplace a cup, causing the stack to topple.

It’s a really good way to improve eye-hand coordination, said Dom Daltorio, the St. Charles physical education teacher who supervised the activities.

The children learn to use both hands equally as they follow the strict routine of creating and dismantling stacks of 12 cups.

There were cheers of encouragement as pupils urged their classmates on to faster stacking speeds — and occasional groans and hands thrown into the air in mock despair when someone’s stack toppled unexpectedly.

Daltorio said St. Charles got involved in sport stacking six years ago when his wife, Marilyn Daltorio, also a St. Charles physical education teacher, picked up the idea at a convention for physical education instructors in Cincinnati.

The children now do it once a month in their gym classes, and everyone is involved, from kindergarten through eighth grade, he said.

gwin@vindy.com