Students try breaking sports stacking record

West Bourbon Elementary School fourth-grade student Rhet Reed finishes a six-stack with the jumbo sport stack cups Thursday morning. Students from WBE participated in the STACK UP event attempting to break the world record for most people sport stacking at multiple locations in one day.(Michael Pommier/Tribune)

UNIONTOWN -- It may look like just plain stacking plastic cups, but for many Sport Stacking is the real deal.

On Thursday, students from West Bourbon Elementary School participated in the 2011 STACK UP, sponsored by the World Sport Stacking Association.

The event has been held annually since 2006 with the same goal, break the Guinness World Record for most people Sport Stacking in multiple locations in one day.

A group of West Bourbon Elementary School fourth-grade students participate in a group Sport Stacking race Thursday morning as students from WBE and Uniontown Junior High School participated in the STACK UP event attempting to break the world record for most people sport stacking at multiple locations in one day.(Michael Pommier/Tribune)

WBE physical education teacher and Sport Stack Ambassador Jackie Hall said that this is the first year the school has participated in the event. Students are trying to surpass the record set last year of 316,736 people. Youngsters ranging from preschool through sixth grade participated in 30-minute time periods to be counted toward the school's total.

According to the WSSA website (www.thewssa.com), WBE is one of 2,323 schools, including 82 campuses in Kansas, from 19 countries that are participating this year. Hall said she estimates there were about 260 participants from WBE, including some teachers.

During Thursday's event, youngsters took part in various activities including a group race in which all students competed against each other, battle stacks in which students were competing head to head and relay races where students performed various stacks with mini, regular and jumbo-sized cups.

Hall said she hopes to get more schools in the Southeast Kansas area to participate next year. She said that Sport Stacking is more than just stacking cups and taking them down as fast as you can; it helps develop hand-eye coordination and promotes fitness and speed. In addition, she said it is a lot of fun.

According to the Speed Stacks website (www.speedstacks.com), Sport Stacking originated in the early 1980s in Southern California and received national attention in 1990 on a segment of the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. That was where it first captured the imagination of Bob Fox, then an elementary classroom teacher in Colorado.