Berkeley Leader

A round of cup stacking goes by pretty quickly.

If those cups are in the hands of Westview Elementary fifth-grader Canaan Adams, it is more like just a couple of seconds – and if one were to question this, all they would need to do is watch him actually do it.

Adams recently demonstrated his skills by going head-to-head stacking some cups with his P.E. teacher, Pamelia Banks, who taught him everything he knows about the sport last year. The round lasted a total of 16 seconds, but Adams finished in 11 seconds.

Banks was all smiles following the quick contest – losing does not faze her, it just makes her proud of her student.

“Every teacher wants their student to be better than they are,” she said, giving Adams a hug and adding, “I’m proud that something I taught him lit a spark in him.”

Adams has gotten so good at cup stacking that he recently won eight medals at the AAU Junior Olympics cup stacking (or sport stacking) competition in Greensboro, N.C. in July: three gold, two silver and five bronzes. There were 122 stackers who participated this year. Later this school year, Adams will compete in another competition in Atlanta.

This highly-decorated young cup stacker wore his medals to school on Friday, when school librarian Jennifer Beaver recognized him on stage in the multipurpose room during an assembly prior to the school's house sorting ceremony.

Beaver told the school's new third-graders that they are going to learn cup stacking from Banks this year, and praised Adams for his hard work.

"This just shows you that when you find a passion, you can take it and do whatever you want," she told students.

Cup stacking is a nationally known sport, from the primary level all the way up to adults. Adams is in the junior division.

Banks introduced the sport to her students last year, starting with what is known as the 3-3-3 stack. They moved on to 3-6-3, and then the whole cycle: 3-6-3-6-6, 1-10-1 and then back to 3-6-3. Those numbers indicate how many cups are in a stack. Players stack their cups on special mats that include touchpads and a timer.

Adams had never played the sport prior to learning it from Banks but ended up enjoying it.

“It was fun,” he said, adding that he liked “mostly everything” about it.

Banks hosted a school-wide competition last year that Adams lost because he “fumbled” (a cup falling); Banks said fumbling is very common but if one fumbles they have to re-start the stack they were working on.

Although he lost that particular competition, Adams is very talented at the sport. Last school year he bought his own stack of cups to work with, and would spend his recess time practicing with Banks. He would also practice against some of his friends.

Banks said Adams has “quick hands”; and he just got faster and faster as he practiced.

“It’s amazing because he just started last year,” she said.

Adams works with different sizes of cups; he has one set of “shorties” and a set of “minis.” He said he is the best at the shorties, even though they are considered harder to work with because they are smaller cups.

Adams’s advice to anybody wanting to get good at a new skill is mostly to just practice. He named his mom as one of his biggest supporters, as well as his teacher from last year, Natalie Brittle.

Banks, of course, is also a big supporter; when she starts introducing cup-stacking this school year, she plans on having Adams swing by her class to show the newer students how it is done.

“I’m really proud of him,” she said. “This is the first student I’ve had that’s gone on to a national competition so I’m really happy for him.”

Adams is in the house Altruismo at Westview Elementary. His favorite thing about his school are the teachers; this year he has Karen Mortoni and Lauren Crochunis. His favorite subjects are math and science. For fun, he likes to play outside with his friends and watch television – “and cup stack.”

 

Mia Grimm contributed to this story.

Monica Kreber

kreberm@bcsdschools.net

Original source can be found here.