Sport Stacking? Speed Stacking? What?

One of the more interesting sports to surface in recent years is Sport Stacking which originated in the early 1980s in southern California and then received national attention in 1990 on a segment of the “Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.” That was where it captured the imagination of Bob Fox, a PE teacher in Colorado. He started teaching his students the skill sport of timed cup stacking and started seeing positive results in his students as some of the benefits included hand/eye coordination development. As the sport has developed, the benefits for non-athletic kids competing with athletic kids in what is essentially a level playing field becomes a win-win situation.

So was the case in February this year when the first annual FISD Sport Stacking Tournament was held at Brown MS with a record setting 221 stackers participating. Forney Education Foundation was on hand to sponsor the medals and cheer on the victors. And this past weekend, the Claybon ES Speed Stackers traveled to the AAU Junior Olympics in Des Moines, Iowa. Coach Redwine has worked diligently with her team, practicing two times a week all summer long to prepare for this competition.

Another benefit of sport stacking for the participants is in academics, as sport stacking on a regular basis has shown increases in test scores and levels of concentration. This is achieved by students using both their right and left sides of their brains. When students sport stack, they are crossing the “midline” of their bodies and developing new connections in their brains. These new connections help to spur brain growth which helps to achieve greater academic achievement for the student.

Here’s your opportunity to sport stack for the Foundation by going to www.forneyisdfoundation. org and seeing how FEF benefits the students in Forney ISD with academic “stacking” in our students’ favor!