In addition to being heaps of fun, sport stacking is a beneficial activity in which participants can enhance their physical and mental fitness levels.

The World Sport Stacking Association (WSSA) reports regular stackers have documented increases of nearly 30 percent in both hand-eye coordination and reaction time. Furthermore, the concentration it takes to stack and unstack pyramids of cups in timed sessions — with no mistakes — boosts academic achievement due to the activation of both sides of the brain.

And, according to the local sport stacking coach, it gets loads better.

“Stacking is a true confidence builder,” stated coach Mishie Daknis, who is assisted by Janet Orth. “It’s a more inclusive sport for more people with different abilities.”

Daknis, Orth and their club of eight stackers will travel to the 2010 World Sport Stacking Championships at Magness Arena on the Denver University campus this weekend. Daknis said the event is an open competition with several age categories from 4 to 60 and older.

First called cup stacking, and sometimes referred to as speed stacking, the activity began in the early 1980s at a southern California Boys & Girls club. Johnny Carson featured it on “The Tonight Show” in 1990, and the rest is history, not unlike the ancient pyramids the stacked cups resemble.

Today, WSSA boasts sport stacking teams in some 30,000 schools and youth organizations worldwide. Daknis said the local effort began at Eyestone Elementary School about five years ago, thanks to parent volunteer Rhonda Callison.

Eyestone physical education teacher Sandy Fetzer said she and a few of her colleagues are working toward holding a local Poudre School District competition, but nothing is set yet. She is hopeful to have time in her P.E. schedule next year in which to form some speed stacking teams through enrichment opportunities.

“I love speed stacking because kids of all ages and abilities can do it,” explained Fetzer, who will to attending the April 10 competition, her first. “I start my kindergarten kids out with the basics, and it’s amazing how fast they catch on.”

The youngest Wellington stacker is also the fastest stacker in town.

Josh Schwarz, 10, is three seconds off the world record time for a full cycle.

“I like being the fastest,” Josh said.

Daknis said Josh’s speed is no fluke — the competitor dutifully and joyfully practices three hours a day.

“It’s highly addictive,” Daknis said.

Sport stacking is all about speed and accuracy.

Twelve-year-old Salina Barry is ecstatic that she has shaved six seconds off her time. She’s also proud to report stacking has improved her performance in the classroom.

“I have gone from C’s to B’s,” she said. “It really helps you focus.”

Jenny Daknis, 13, echoed her coach-mother’s sentiments regarding how anybody and everybody can participate, “No matter how old or young or how good you are at sports, this is one anyone can do.”

That’s something Brenna Diesher, also 13, appreciated but for another reason.

“I love cup stacking because I’m homeschooled, so I can’t get involved in other school sports,” she said. “Plus it’s fun and I’m with my friends.”

In Daknis’s view, camaraderie and teamwork make sport stacking more supportive than other sports.

“After all,” she noted, “we’ve been practicing since summer. Most other sports teams work together for, what, eight weeks?”

Sport stacking is both an individual and team sport where the competition can either be the clock or another player. Specially made plastic cups are stacked on mats connected to timers in specific, predetermined sequences, although Daknis said cups can be mini to jumbo in size, or made of metal. Some cups even glow in the dark, she said.

The WSSA event features three official sequences.

• “3-3-3” where the stacker must create three pyramids of three cups each and then “down stack” the cups back into nested stacks of three in the order that they were “up stacked.”

• “3-6-3” which requires the stacker to stack up three pyramids made up of three cups on the left, six cups in the center and three cups on the right and down stack to three nested stacks.

• “Full Cycle” with a sequence of a 3-6-3 stack, a 6-6 stack, a 1-10-1 stack, and finishing in a down-stacked 3-6-3.

The world record for the “3-3-3” is 1.8 seconds, shared by a 13-year-old from New Jersey and a 12-year-old from Massachusetts.

One major rule: You fumble, you fix before moving on.

The Wellington club has several individual competitors as well as two relay teams: the Hot Wing Stackers (Salina, Josh, Will Daknis and Matthew Orth) and the Sensored Stackers (Jenny, Brenna, Lillie Orth, 13, and Emily Jones, 11).

Left-handed Will and right-handed Matthew, both 11, are also competing in the doubles category.

“Some kids think it’s lame; others think it’s cool…till they watch, then pretty much everybody thinks it’s cool,” commented Matthew, who added what he thinks would be really cool is an “eyes closed” competition.

Will has the dubious distinction of being the only player injured while stacking.

“A cup flew up and scratched me on the throat,” he said. “It didn’t hurt. Much.”

The Wellington club practices its stacking every Wednesday at the Leeper Center after school — after snacking, that is. Call Daknis for more information at 568-3458.

Daknis, a member of the Wellington Town Board and the Housing Authority Board and mother of five, said she loves seeing the kids pull together as a team and watching them all improve and succeed.