Slick Stacks

Stacking cups is no longer just the work of a tea lady

The most incredible thing about sport stacking isn’t the fact that the “sport” consists of nothing more than forming various pyramids with specially made plastic cups. It isn’t the unique sound that comes with stacking, either, which is a little bit like a shower of ping pong balls falling quickly to the ground. It isn’t even how quickly competitors’ hands move while they’re stacking, although the speed is unbelievable – in mere seconds, cups have been piled high and, just as quickly, collapsed into neat, hand-held towers.

No, the most incredible thing about sport stacking is the age of the average stacker. Though stacking competitions for adults do exist, the sport is much more widely practiced by elementary and secondary school-aged children – both in school and in extracurricular competitions. The world record-holder in every sport-stacking event is Steven Purugganan, a 12-year-old from Massachusetts who’s already been stacking for three years. This so-called “Tiger Woods of stacking” once created and broke down a pyramid of six cups sandwiched between two pyramids of three cups (the so-called “3-6-3”) in just 2.15 seconds.

Sport stacking was invented in southern California in the 1980s. It began to gain popularity after Bob Fox, a physical education teacher from Denver, Colorado, created a company called Speed Stacks that manufactures and sells the unique 295ml vessels—they’re made with a special rim that easily separates cups when they’re in their initial stack, or “nested”, as well as three holes at the bottom of each cup that allow air to quickly escape while stacking. Fox began introducing the sport to physical education teachers across the United States, eventually making inroads into other countries as well. Today, sport stacking can be found in 22 nations worldwide – including Hong Kong.

In 2007, sport stacking was introduced to Hong Lok Yuen International School in Tai Po. It was an immediate hit and, over the next two years, the activity has gradually grown in popularity. Our city’s first sport stacking tournament will take place on August 1 and 2 in Sha Tin’s New Town Plaza Phase III. The fastest stackers may even get a chance to join Team Hong Kong, the delegation that will be heading to Denver, Colorado, for the next World Sport Stacking Championships in April 2010.

Currently the fastest time in Hong Kong for the “cycle” event, which involves making and collapsing a 3-6-3, then building and collapsing two pyramids of six cups each, making a 1-10-1 formation and finally ending with another 3-6-3 is 7.59 seconds. By point of comparison, Steven Purugganan can finish a cycle in a blistering 5.93 seconds. The difference may not seem incredibly great, but like sprinting or swimming, this is a sport where competitors are made or broken by times that differ only by milliseconds.

That record may be shattered, however, on August 2. The world’s fastest stacker will be attending Hong Kong’s tournament, along with his brothers and fellow stackers Brian and Andrew. Steven plans to break his current personal bests. ‘I am really excited to go to Hong Kong and participate at the sport stacking tournament,’ he told Stacking HK, a local organization set up earlier this year to promote and develop the sport. ‘I hear the food is great and I can’t wait to get some dim sum.’

Before the tournament, eager stackers gathered at New Town Plaza III’s Atrium Gallery on July 20 to demonstrate their skills for shoppers and members of the press. The stackers, none of whom were over the age of 16, crouched low so that they would be closer to their stacking tables, bending their knees like boxers. They stared at the pyramids they assembled and dismantled unblinkingly, with an intensity surprising for people of their age.

Finn Hurley, a wiry 12-year-old originally from New Zealand, was one of the standout stackers in the group. He’s already pretty seasoned, although he’s never competed in a tournament before. Finn remembered being immediately struck when his PE teacher in Hong Kong introduced sport stacking to their class in 2007. ‘After a lesson, I thought it was a pretty cool thing. I thought every lesson of PE that we do it, I’d try my best. And then I became pretty good at it,’ he said.

Now Finn practices stacking for an hour every day. He told me that his main goal right now is to break 10 seconds in the cycle ‘because I’m stuck on 10 seconds all the time’, but by the end of the demonstration he had already achieved that with a cycle time of just 9.66 seconds.

Finn was elated. He couldn’t wait to show his stuff in the tournament, though he admitted that participating in a high-pressure situation can make a stacker – or anyone – feel ‘really, really nervous’. At least he has a strategy to keep himself from getting too anxious: ‘I just think, “Look at the cups, don’t look at the cameras, don’t look at anyone. No one’s there, just the cups.”’

In the end, Finn’s love of the sport will be enough to keep him stacking for a long time, regardless of the stress of competition. As he told me, he plans to be a sport stacker ‘until my hands wear out’. Watch out, Steven Purugganan – there might be a new sheriff in town soon.

Volleyball
Hong Kong is hosting volleyball’s World Grand Prix Pool G preliminary round this year but those who expect to see the same faces in China’s women’s team as they saw at the Beijing Olympics will be in for a shock. As new coach Bin Cai reconstructs the team, he is sure to introduce some of the country’s brightest young talent to square off against the Polish, Netherlands and Dominican Republic teams for a place in the finals and the US$95,000 prize money. No doubt other countries have also re-assessed their teams for the World Grand Prix and Hong Kong fans can expect fresh exuberance and some tough contests during the mid-August competition in the Coliseum.
What: 2009 FIVB World Grand Prix-Hong Kong
When: August 14-16 Where: Hong Kong Coliseum
How much: 14/8 (Fri) – $400, $180, $80, $30: 15-16/8 (Sat and Sun) – $500, $220, $100, $40
Enquiries: 2771 0129/ www.vbahk.org.hk

Canoeing
It’s one of those sports in which you think ‘That looks so easy’ – until you try. What could be difficult about sitting in a boat and paddling one arm after the other to get the thing gliding like a swan on the water? Well, centre of gravity for one – don’t keep it low and you could be swimming instead of swanning – and rhythm for another: without that, your mates will get cramps laughing as your canoe points now nor’east, now nor’west and goes exactly nowhere. Before starting, see how it’s really done at the HK Age Group Sprints Canoeing Championships – or do it yourself, if you already have the expertise – and the cojones.
What: HK Age Group Sprint Canoeing Championships
When: August 15-16
Where: Shing Mun River, Shatin
Enquiries: 2504 8186/ www.hkcucanoe.com.hk

Karting
You wouldn’t think something so dinky could go so fast but those midget racers that sound like lawn mowers on testosterone can get up to 115 miles an hour and reach 60 from 0 in three seconds. Although karts are raced by all ages, they are often career starters for talented young drivers who go on to formula car racing – China’s champion Cheng Cong Fu raced karts for many years before becoming the first Chinese not only to complete the 24-hour Le Mans but to finish on the podium after taking third in the LMP2 class. If that ignites the petrol in your blood, be at the Diamond Coast International Circuit on the last Sunday of the month for the HKKC Championship’s Round 2 where you may well see the next Cheng Cong Fu make his mark.
What: HKKC Championship – Round 2
When: August 30 Where: Diamond Coast International Kart Circuit
Enquiries: 2504 8293/ www.hkkartclub.org

Taekwondo
Think cat-fight and you’ll probably picture hair-pulling, biting and slapping. Call it taekwondo and it becomes a sport. Known as the ‘way of the foot and the fist’, this Korean martial art depends heavily on the damage a leg can do, and so when the ladies take to each other under the rules of the game, they’ll be gaining more bruises than losing handfuls of hair. At the HK Ladies TKD Competition 2009 this month expect some battles royal as the best in Hong Kong take each other on during the first three Sundays of the month.
What: HK Ladies TKD Competition 2009
When: August 2, 9 and 16
Where: Lam Tin South SC, Pei Ho Street SC, Shek Tong Tsui SC
Enquiries: 2504 8116/ www.hktkda.net

Football
What was Cristiano Ronaldo’s record-breaking transfer fee to move from Manchester United to Real Madrid last month? This may be one of the easier questions in the quiz night after the HK Supporters 6’s football tournament on August 1 and 2, when teams from the Liverpool, Manchester United, Rangers, Celtic, West Ham, Everton, Chelsea and Arsenal supporters clubs face off at the King’s Park. It should be a great weekend for soccer fans, who can shout themselves hoarse for their favourite club before medicating their throats with a few drinks and stimulating their brains with lots of football trivia. Part of the proceeds will be donated to Camp Quality, which provides support for children being treated for cancer. Oh, and if you said £80 million to the Ronaldho question, you’d be on the money.
What: HK Supporters 6’s Football for Fans
When: August 1-2 Where: August 1 – AMICI, 1/F, Lockhart Road.
August 2 – Kings Park
How much: $200 per team for the quiz night
Enquiries: footballforfans@admiral.com.hk/ www.admiral.com.hk/hk-supporters-6