Sport stacking
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| Sport stacking | |
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| Sport | Sport Stacking |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Claim to Fame | The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson[1] |
| Motto | Stack Fast! |
| No. of competitors | {{{competitors}}} |
| Country | USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Japan[2] |
| Current champion | Steven Purugganan (2008 World Championships, Overall Champion[3]) |
| Official website | http://www.worldsportstackingassociation.org and http://www.speedstacks.com |
Sport stacking (formerly known as cup stacking and commonly known as speed stacking) is an individual and team activity played using plastic cups. In the United States it originated in the early 1980s at a southern California boys and girls' club and received national attention in 1990 on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The sport was invented by Wayne Godinet. He was the man who invented the first formations and gave the name to the Cup stack (Karango Cup Stack). Shortly thereafter Godinet formed a group called Cupstack. Later he worked together with the physical education teacher Bob Fox. Early competitions were held in 1998 in Oceanside, California and Denver, Colorado. Later Bob fox developed the sport and invented new formations and competitons, he also invented the annual World Sport Stacking Championships and founded Speed Stacks.
Participants of sport stacking upstack and downstack cups in pre-determined sequences, competing against the clock or another player. Sequences are usually pyramids of three, six, or ten cups. Proponents of the sport say participants learn teamwork, cooperation, ambidexterity and hand-eye coordination.
Tournaments are governed by the World Sport Stacking Association. In 2004, the WSSA changed the activity's name from cup stacking to sport stacking in an attempt to give it "immediate identification as a competitive sport."
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[edit] Cups
Sport stacking can only be done with specially designed cups, made to prevent sticking to one another. Made of durable plastic, the cups have three holes in the bottom to allow air to pass through quickly when stacking the cups together, and are designed with eight ribs reinforcing a ledge inside to keep the cups separate when nested, so they can be quickly separated from each other when stacking. The official company for WSSA-approved cups is Speed Stacks[1]. The WSSA only allows Speed Stacks to be used in competitions.
Special training cups called "Super Stacks" are also available. These heavier cups are made of metal and are to be used directly before competitions. The added weight is supposed to make the regular cups feel lighter, allowing the stacker to stack faster in competition.
There are also Mini Speed Stacks which are an inch tall, for a more challenging stack and for when full size cups won't fit in a given practice space.
[edit] Rules
There are three main types of stacks in competition. All stacks can be made from left-to-right or right-to-left (individual preference), but the same direction must be maintained for both "up stacking" (setting the cups into pyramids) and "down stacking" (unstacking the pyramids and returning them to their nested position). Don't slam them, but let them slide. If you knock down a cup, you must downstack back to where you were, fix it, then you can upstack the cups again.
[edit] 3 - 3 - 3
Uses 9 cups. Cups start in three nested stacks of 3. The stacker must create three pyramids of 3 cups each and then down stack the cups back into nested stacks of 3 in the order that they were upstacked.
[edit] 3 - 6 - 3
Uses 12 cups. The stacker must create three pyramids made up of three cups on the left, six cups in the center, and three cups on the right (3-6-3), then down stack the cups in the order that they were upstacked into their original position. Also used as the first transition of the Cycle Stack.
[edit] 1 - 10 - 1
Uses 12 cups. The stacker begins with a single downstacked pile. He/she must take two cups off the top, turn one upside-down (stacker's choice), then upstack the remaining ten. The stacker must then tap the opposite sides of the single cups and take down the ten stack into a downstacked 3-6-3. This stack is only used competitively as the third transition of the Cycle Stack
[edit] Cycle stack
The most complicated stack is called the Cycle Stack. It involves a sequence which includes, in order: a 3-6-3 stack, a 6-6 stack, and a 1-10-1 stack, finishing in a down stacked 3-6-3.
[edit] Competition
Most sport stacking competitions are geared toward children, with divisions by year for ages 12 and under. For older stackers, the divisions are by age groups: 13-14, 15-18, 19-24 (Collegiate), 25-34, 35-44, 45-59 (Masters 1-3), 60+ (Senior). There are also divisions for "Special Stackers" (disabled people).
In team relay, four/5-person teams compete head-to-head in a best-of-three-race match. In doubles, two stackers stand side-by-side to complete the stack, with one Stacker using only his or her right hand while the other using only his or her left.
[edit] 2008 WSSA World Sport Stacking Championships
- Cycle Champion: Steven Purugganan, 10, time 6.21 sec, New World Record
- 3-6-3 Champion: Steven Purugganan, 10, time 2.34 sec
- 3-3-3 Champion: Steven Purugganan, 10, time 1.86 sec, New World Record
- Doubles Cycle: Timo Reuhl & David Wolf, time 7.65 sec, New World Record
- Timed 3-6-3 Relay: TeaM2 Germany, time 13.19 sec, New World Record
- Team 6-12-6 Champions: Chris Patterson & Reece Gregory, Australia, time 10.34sec. Australian record.
[edit] World records
The WSSA has set the following protocol for the setting of world records.:
- Must use WSSA approved sport stacking cups. (Speed Stacks)
- Must use a StackMat and Tournament Display.
- Must be video taped for review and verification purposes.
- Must use 3 Judges (one designated Head Judge) to judge each try. After each try the 3 Judges confer. The Head Judge will then designate with a color-coded card the outcome of that try. (Green-Clean Run, Yellow-Try in Question (Immediate Video Review) and Red–Scratch).
A finals Judge may not be a family member or the Sport Stacking Instructor of the Stacker.
WSSA's website recognizes the advantage stopwatch-timing allowed stackers before the 2003 introduction of the stackmat, but asserts that records set before 2003 are still recognized until they are broken.
On 25 November 2006, Emily Fox's 4-year world record was beaten by Robin Stangenberg with a time of 7.41 seconds[4]. Then on April 15, 2007, David Wolf of Germany set the new world record of 7.25 seconds, at the 2007 World Sport Stacking Championships in Denver. Then the world record was broken by Steve Purugganan with a 7.23 in Attica, New York [2] Just weeks after this, David Wolf got the record back and did a 7.15s in Germany in November 2007.
In February 2008, Timo Ruehl made history by stacking the first ever sub seven cycle at a sanctioned tournament, 6.80. On February 16, Steven Purugganan took all three world records getting a 1.96 in the 3-3-3, a 2.38 in the 3-6-3, and a 6.65 in the cycle. Steven, with his brother Andrew also took the doubles world record, 7.84. On April 6, during the 2008 World Championships in Denver, Steven Purugganan broke two of these records. These are his current world records :
- 3-3-3 : 1.86 sec
- 3-6-3 : 2.34 sec
- cycle : 6.21 sec
