John McGlashan College pupil Ben Lovelock (12) demonstrates the cup-stacking skills that have earned him a place in the national team, the Black Stacks, which will compete at the world championships in Colorado next year.
Ben got involved in the sport of stacking in January after seeing his cousins in action. It took him about four days to master the standard patterns and since then he has practised for about an hour a day.
The insistent clicking of cups may irritate his sister, but it paid off for him at the national championships in New Plymouth last month. He came second overall and first in his age group.
Only about 100 people are involved in the sport in New Zealand, but it was ‘‘really big'' in the United States and Canada, he said. Competition consisted of performing three different stack styles as fast as possible. Ben's favourite, the cycle stack, was the ‘‘premier stack'' and he had a personal best time of 7.05 seconds.
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