Sports stacking
Sport Stacking (German: Sportstapeln ) is a sport of skill in which a set of twelve shaped cups is used to stack pyramids in a certain order and then stack them again. You try to be as quick and error-free as possible. In the media, the sport is sometimes referred to as “speed stacking” after the brand “speed stacks”.
General
The special cups were invented in California in the 1980s and sold by Hasbro under the name "Kup Stax" . The sport and today's disciplines were then developed by the American elementary school teacher Bob Fox, who also founded the Speed Stacks company. In 2004 the sport found its way from the USA to Germany.
In the United States, over 20,000 schools participate in a sports stacking program. Because cup stacking has been popular in America for several years, championships are held regularly in some schools.
In Germany, too, sport stacking is becoming increasingly popular in schools and clubs.
Use
Speed stacking promotes two-handedness, hand-eye coordination and responsiveness. There is a cross connection in the human brain because the left side of the brain controls the right half of the body and vice versa. Almost all nerves cross each other in the brain, the connection between the two halves is a “bar” made of extra thick nerve fibers, also known as the corpus callosum . People learn and work best when they have good access to both halves of the brain and information can be exchanged via the corpus callosum.
Sport stacking activates both halves of the brain by alternately working with left and right hands and crossing the middle of the face. New links are formed, new "nerve roads" built, which can be expanded with regular occupation with sport stacking. These newly created neural pathways can be helpful when learning other content or skills, such as playing an instrument, reading and writing, or doing sports. Similar positive effects are achieved as with juggling .
Sport stacking is also used by disabled people and offers them good opportunities to train their motor skills and get the same positive benefits as non-disabled sport stackers.
Scientifically published studies:
- Stacking improves hand-eye coordination and reaction speed by up to 30%. Published in Perceptual and Motor Skills in 2004.
- An EEG study by Melanie A. Hart, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Health, Exercise and Sport Sciences at Texas Tech University proves the use of both halves of the brain, which is responsible for positive effects (see above). Publication honored by the poster award from AAHPERD Hart could not prove the advantages regarding the reaction speed.
- In 2007, the Faculty of Kinesiology at Towson University, Towson, MD demonstrated positive effects of a six-week stacking course on the reading skills of participating students regardless of gender.
- In the meantime, the University of Nevada used stacking as a test procedure in 2007 in order to distinguish which influence on the training influence observation by and dialogue with the teacher have.
Disciplines and tournaments
The official rules were drawn up by the WSSA (World Sport Stacking Association). It has been holding the World Cup and other tournaments for several years and accordingly keeps national and international record lists in the various age groups, in which all valid records made at WSSA tournaments are collected. The WSSA also holds all national championships, in addition to the US and German championships in Canada , Great Britain , Australia , Mexico , Japan and Switzerland . All age groups from under 4 to over 60 can be found at the tournaments. The oldest participants who took part in competitions so far were over 75 years old.
In 2006, the ISSF (International Sport Stacking Federation) was initiated by the FlashCups brand, which also holds tournaments and allows every brand of cup to be used. In addition, new forms of competition have been introduced in recent years, such as the stack duel developed by the ISSF, in which stackers compete against each other in a knockout system.
The three individual competition disciplines are:
- 3-3-3 (overall world record: 1.363 s, William Orrell, USA)
- 3-6-3 (Overall world record: 1.779 s, William Orrell, USA)
- Cycle (Overall world record: 4,813 s, William Orrell, USA)
Status of the records: September 27, 2017
There are also disciplines such as relay or doubles. In doubles, two participants take part in the cycle with a set of cups, one only allowed to use the right hand and the other only the left hand. In addition to the normal double, there is the parent / child (parent / child) double in two age groups, 10U and 11+. In a relay, four athletes stack the 3-6-3 or the cycle one after the other.
The double and relay competition disciplines are:
- Double cycle (Overall world record: 5,953 William Orrell & William Polly, USA)
- Time relay 363 (overall world record: 12,212, FANTASTIC FOUR, USA)
- Head-To-Head Relay 3-6-3 (competition mode against each other, not against time)
- Head-To-Head Relay Cycle (competition mode against each other, not against time)
The most frequently cited and best-known world record is the record for all age groups in the cycle discipline. This was held for years with 7.43 s by the American Emily Fox and the video of it is widespread on the video platforms. Since the beginning of 2007 the record has been improved several times. The current world record now stands at 5.00 s, held by William Orrell.
Some tournaments also have independent competitions for disabled athletes. In addition to age groups, the athletes are also classified according to their degree of disability, which is determined using the 3-6-3 time. Whoever manages a time of less than 16 seconds in 3-6-3 belongs to level 1, whoever is above it belongs to level 2. One of the best stackers of level 1 is the German Bianca Asche, who meanwhile has times of less than 13 in the cycle Seconds can accomplish.
The German Sport Stacking Championship took place for the third time in January 2007 and attracted almost 400 participants from all over the country. Almost 1200 athletes took part in the WSSA World Championships in Denver , USA in April 2007, with an average of 150 stackers in each age group. Similar numbers of participants were achieved at the 2008 World Cup, but the results have improved enormously compared to the previous year. In the strongest age groups 13 to 14 and 15 to 18 years of age, times in the cycle or doubles disciplines were sometimes not enough to make it into the finals, which were still world records in 2006.
On April 14th and 15th, 2012, the World Championship took place for the first time in Germany in Butzbach , Hesse , in which around 250 stackers from 20 nations took part. The lower number of participants can be explained by the fact that the World Championship has been an invitation tournament since 2011 and only a limited number of people from different nations are allowed to compete there.
Fun disciplines
One of the fun disciplines is the so-called "Stack-5" developed by WSSA Germany. It was first tried out in Germany in 2007 and presented as a demo competition at the 2008 World Cup in Denver. A total of five patterns have to be stacked and additional running routes have to be mastered. The process is as follows:
- The athlete starts at table 1 with a 3-3-3 and then runs to table 2, which is two meters behind him
- There he stacks a 3-6-3 and runs back to table 1
- Here a complete cycle is stacked and closed again
- Table 2 ran, where another 3-6-3 has to be overcome
- Back at table 1, it ends with a 3-3-3 and finally the time is stopped.
Time mat / timer
A so-called “stack mat” has been used at WSSA tournaments since 2003. Previously, the times were taken by referees with hand stopwatches. The time mat is a device in which the athletes start and stop the time themselves. It has contact surfaces on which the athlete places his hands. When a hand leaves the timer, timing starts. It ends when both hands rest on the contact surfaces again after stacking. The referees just have to verify that there were no stack errors and then note the time.
In the meantime, this timekeeping technique has also been adopted by other sports. It is used in memory sports championships in the Speed Cards discipline and in speed cubing (Rubik's Cube) tournaments.
The "Stack Mat" can also be used at ISSF tournaments, but the stacker has the alternative of using the FlashCups brand mat and timer. The FlashCups mat is slightly thicker than the “Stack Mat” from Speed Stacks, and the timer is a special one-hand timer that allows you to start and stop with just one hand, while the Speed Stacks timer allows you to do both Have to put your hands on the support surfaces so that it reacts.
Sports stacking in Germany
The teacher Petra Bauer brought the sport to Germany after a stay in the USA. In the spring of 2005, four students from her school took part in the World Cup in the USA. Miriam Christ, Timo Reuhl, Christoph Sauer and Marcus Reitz unexpectedly achieved several titles and then appeared in numerous German television programs, including Stern TV and TV total . As a result, the sport became well known in Germany and won numerous followers. Up until now, the sport has mainly been practiced by schoolchildren.
In 2009, 2010 and 2012 , Florian Friedrich from Bad Driburg became world champion.
At the 2011 World Championships in Dallas, Alexander Balz, who comes from Winningen (Mosel), won a world title just like in 2010.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ advantages? How Sport Stacking with Speed Stacks keeps your head and body fit. on: speedstacks.de
- ↑ Brian E. Udermann, Steven R. Murray, John M. Mayer, Kenneth Sagendorf: Influence of cup stacking on hand-eye coordination and reaction time of second-grade students. ( Memento of May 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) at: speedstacks.com , (English; PDF; 3.1 MB)
- ↑ facultyweb.cortland (English; PDF; 69 kB)
- ↑ BE Udermann include: Influence of cup stacking on hand-eye coordination and reaction time of second-grade students. In: Percept Mot Skills. 98 (2), Apr 2004, pp. 409-414.
- ↑ Texas Tech University (English)
- ↑ confex.com (English)
- ↑ M. Hart et al .: Influence of participation in a cup-stacking unit on timing tasks. In: Percept Mot Skills. 101 (3), Dec 2005, pp. 869-876.
- ↑ TA Uhrich, TL Swalm: A pilot study of a possible effect from a motor task on reading performance. In: Percept Mot Skills. 104 (3 Pt 1), Jun 2007, pp. 1035-1041. Available for download at: cdc.gov (English; PDF; 2.7 MB)
- ↑ C. Granados, G. Wulf: Enhancing motor learning through dyad practice: contributions of observation and dialogue. In: Res Q Exerc Sport. 78 (3), Jun 2007, pp. 197-203.
- ↑ a b c d e World Sport Stacking Association (WSSA) ( Memento of the original from July 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Sports stacking: Florian Friedrich world champion. , webnews.de, accessed on September 7, 2011.
