Sport stacking: YouTube's odd but neat kid sport

World champ Steven Purugganan. (Screen grab from YouTube)

Have you seen the new sports fad where kids stack cups into pyramids at blinding speed?  Check the clip at bottom, from Steven Purugganan, whiz kid of speed stacking.

Apparently this pastime has been around a little while and has grown into a competitive sport with a governing body and everything. What's fun is the subculture of it that involves kids videotaping themselves doing timed practice runs, and posting the results on YouTube. 

At first it looks like the films are speeded up, but after watching a bunch of them, it's clear that the kids really are that fast, and that stacking demands a level of dexterity and speed that could only be possible in this Xbox-centered universe.

The 10-year-old Purugganan holds the overall world records in all three of the sport's stacking categories, including the Cycle, where the competitor must create three different  arrangements of the 12 cups as fast as he can.  Purugganan has done it with an official time of 6.21 seconds. 

Can anyone think of any other sports where a 10-year-old dominates all age groups?

Comments

[charlie]

David, you have officially blown my mind. That is the craziest thing I have seen all year.

[Cup Stacking]

Hi there,

it is not just a kids sport!
There are official tournaments all around the world (the World Championships saw 1200 competitors) and the age-divisions range from under 4 years to over 60 years.

In the categories 19-24 and 25-34 there are hundreds of sport stacking fans! And there are not much slower then the younger kids, even if it is true (and very interesting) that the 10-14 year olds are the fastest.

There is a sport stacking community http://www.stackingboard.com