Mitchelle Stephenson — The Capital Joe Shenton, 10, begins the relay event in the 3-6-3 stack with Deale Elementary “Soaring Eagle” partners at the ready: Michael Hamlin, 10, Mina Work, 11, and Georgia Campbell, 10. The students hold the Maryland state record with a time of 0:19.25.
By Mitchelle Stephenson
Students at two south county elementary schools were recent winners in local and national competitions.
Students at Deale Elementary not only succeeded at the World Sport Stacking Championships in Denver, Colo., but also set records at regional competitions. Meanwhile, students at Davidsonville Elementary had a clean sweep at a county chess championship.
In Deale, Physical Education teacher Vern Brumfield mentors about two dozen second- through fifth-graders in sport stacking, also known as speed stacking or cup stacking. In the activity, students stack plastic cups into pyramids in a specific order, then break them down.
For example, the students will take 12 cups and stack a "Cycle," which is a 3-6-3, then a 6-6, then a 1-10-1. Some of the Deale competitors complete the Cycle stack in seven to eight seconds.
It is lightning fast.
Michael Hamlin, 10, just returned from the World Sport Stacking Championships on April 11, where 700 competitors from every continent competed.
"My best event is the 3-3-3," Michael said. This is where a competitor starts with nine cups and quickly makes and then breaks down three pyramids of three cups each.
Michael also competed in the Cycle, where he placed 11th in the world. The winning stacker, from Illinois, completed the Cycle in 6.08 seconds.
Michael competed in a team event with Joshua Brumfield, Vern's son and a student at Southern Middle. They made it to the finals, but were bested by a team from Germany.
The sport stacking season is now over, but other members of the Deale Elementary "Soaring Eagles" now hold records.
"We have one of the best teams east of the Mississippi," Vern said.
The four-person relay team of Michael, along with fifth-graders Georgia Campbell, 10, and Mina Work, 11, and fourth-grader Joe Shenton, 10, hold the Maryland record for the 3-6-3 stack with a time of 0:19.25.
Stacking came to the school about three years ago. Vern had purchased a set of cups and a timer to demonstrate the sport.
He was ready to show the kids how to do it when then-second-grade student Joe Shenton took the cups and gave a quick demonstration.
He'd been practicing at home.
"Joe was the fastest anyone had ever seen," Vern said.
Vern now credits Joe with bringing cup stacking to Deale.
After that, Vern started a club with about a dozen students. The team size has doubled since then.
Even Vern enjoys the sport and competition. He competed last weekend in Denver in the adult division.
Vern made it to the finals.
"But I choked. My cups were all over the floor. I was really nervous," Vern said.
Competition is open to anyone, four to 60 years old. Some competitors are affiliated with schools and teams, while some students compete on their own.
Vern said that he believes sport stacking helps children to develop in a variety of ways.
"Physically, it helps children to use both sides of the brain. Emotionally, it creates confidence because the students don't have to be athletic to succeed," Vern said.
"Getting them on a team helps them build self esteem, which is very important at this age," he said.
Vern noted that once children are on a team and begin to compete, they often practice at home because they take pride in improving not only for themselves, but also for their teammates.
"I want to show the kids that they can be successful," Vern said.
At Davidsonville Elementary, a small group of students who participate in a weekly chess club recently took trophies in a clean sweep at the "King of the Hill" county chess tournament, played earlier this month at the Severna Park Community Center.
The students played against teams from Hillsmere and Germantown Elementary schools.
Pamela Davis is the Davidsonville PTO coordinator of the club. The school had a club in the past, but this year, brought in chess coach Andrew Lubenski, who upped the level of play.
"Now the kids eat and sleep chess," Pamela said.
The students not only met once a week to practice play, but they also had chess homework.
They started in October. The club was open to any student in first through fifth grade.
They met before school with about 40 kids in all. It was so popular, they had to bring in a second coach - Chase Gwinn.
Pamela said that one of her goals was to have students play in a tournament, and Andrew found the one in Severna Park so they decided to sign up. Nobody was sure how they'd fare.
At King of the Hill, the Davidsonville students played 22 games in all, winning every one.
Andrew said that results like these are unheard of.
"With so many games played, there should be a few draws or some losses," Andrew said. "Shutouts are virtually unheard of in team chess."
The students who participated and won trophies were: third-graders Josh Gallatin and Noah Burckman; fourth-graders Connor Morris, Alex Rozner and Dylan Cyphers; and fifth-grader Enzo Cicchinelli.
The club is finished for the school year, but Pamela is hopeful that the success the team found this year will lure new chess enthusiasts when school starts again in the fall.
No comments:
Post a Comment