On Wednesday 6^th July Heep Hong Society school in Sham Shui Po held their first Sport Stacking tournament.

Heep Hong Society students have a range of abilities including autism, mental delay or Downs Syndrome. This was the first time such an event has been held at a special needs school in Hong Kong but surely not the last.

Their Occupational Therapist Stephen has been training the students over the past year for 30 minutes a week. Five months ago through sponsorship from HSBC Heep Hong Society (Sham Shui Po) were able to purchase a Sport Pack to assist further with their program.

The Tournament

The day was full of celebration with whistle blowing and banging of blow up plastic clappers. Thirty students took part in the tournament between the ages of 4 and 6 with 25 parents in attendance.

They took part in 3-3-3, 3-6-3 and partner 3-3-3 and 3-6-3. And the parents also got involved partnering up with their son or daughter as well as giving it a go themselves.

In order to add increase the physical activity element of the competition each stacker did the required stack on one table turned 180 degrees and repeated the sequence on another table 5 metres away. The time of the 2 sequences made up the total times.

There were some excellent times being made and the students were able to complete the sequences in the correct order of up stacking and down stacking from the same end and fix fumbles before moving onto the next stack.

The most able students have been invited to the join the WSSA 2011 Hong Kong Sport Stacking Tournament later in the year and are going to keep practicing hard ready to set a Special stackers time for Hong Kong.

We wish Heep Hong Society all the best and Stackinghk will be working alongside them in the future in order to further promote sport stacking throughout the special needs sector in Hong Kong.

If you or your company would like to sponsor a Sport Pack (costing from 3000-4000HKD only) to another one of Heep Hong Society’s schools then please contact us right away and make this sport open to even more special needs children in Hong Kong .

Jeanie Fung is going to represent Hong Kong for the second time at the 2011 WSSA Sport Stacking World Championships in Dallas, USA.

We wish you all the best Jeanie in bettering last years effort and having a lot of fun while you are there!!

If you would like to join Jeanie and represent Hong Kong there is still time.

The World Championships runs each year in April and hosts the best stackers in the World to see who is the fastest.

 This year you could join Jeanie and be part of Team Hong Kong. 

Email us now for more details if your Cycle time is less than 10 seconds.

GO HONG KONG!!!1

Physical exercise at school is usually playing ball games or doing gymnastics. But soon, students might be told to stack cups instead.

Joyce Kam

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Physical exercise at school is usually playing ball games or doing gymnastics. But soon, students might be told to stack cups instead.Although it doesn’t sound very sporty, the quirky game is proving to be a popular way to train children’s hand- eye coordination.

Using a dozen 295ml plastic cups, players need to build up pyramids and break them down in a specific sequence. To complete a cycle, they first create a pyramid of six and with two pyramids of three on the side, or 3-6-3, and break those down.

The second formation is in sets of six, then 1-10-1, before ending with 3-6-3 again.

Beginners usually finish all formations, or one cycle, in 60 seconds while the world record is 5.93 seconds.

“To accomplish the sequence, players need fast and accurate coordination between brain, eyes and hands,” said associate professor Louie Lobo Hung-tak from the department of physical education at Hong Kong Baptist University.

“It trains their fine motor muscle skill and enhances dexterity in reactions. For those suffering from muscular dysfunction, sport stacking can achieve positive therapeutic effect.”

A research paper published in Perceptual and Motor Skills magazine in 2004 has shown that sport stacking can boost eye-hand coordination and reaction time.

To date, more than 20,000 schools worldwide have adopted sport stacking in their physical education curriculum.

“Children can also learn about sportsmanship and advance initiative through competition. Although

the sport is geared toward children, it’s actually a wonderful choice of physical education for families,” Lobo added. Local stacker So Chi-leung agrees. “It’s a very easy sport that everyone can play. And once you master the skills, finishing a cycle at top speed is really satisfying,” said the 15-year-old who started sport stacking six months ago. “Since all you need is the Speedstack cups and a table, you can play the game with your friends anywhere.”

If you want to try out sport stacking, New Town Plaza III in Sha Tin is holding workshops over the weekend from 2pm to 4pm.

Shoppers who spend HK$500 and above in the mall can redeem a free set of competition-standard cups with a DVD guide.

The WSSA Hong Kong Sport Stacking Tournament 2009 will also be held on August 1 and 2. Register at http:/ /www.speedstacks.com.hk/ tournaments before July 27.

10 cubers and stackers attended the first of two judges training sessions at The Harbour School in Sheung Wan. They ran through the 3-3-3, the 3-6-3 and the Cycle techniques. They tested each other on fumbles such as the Tipper, the Slider, the Toppler and the Slanter.

They learnt about Scratches (that’s when the stacker makes a mistake and their effort does not record a time), red cards, green cards and a whole lot more.

Guidelines for all of you who have entered the WSSA Hong Kong Sport Stacking Tournament 2009 will be coming soon.

Check out the follwing link http://www.worldsportstackingassociation.org/rules.htm for more information on the rules and regulations that you’ll need to know when you enter the tournament in August.