"There eyes and minds are riveted on the task at hand, And their hands are a blur of motion as they stack and unstack a group of 12 plastic cups in a predetermined sequence. They compete with themselves and with their classmates and all the while, they are mastering skills that will benefit them in a variety of ways.

They are the Centennial Elementary School Stacking Team and they take their activity seriously, so seriously, in fact, that at the recently contested state championship held at the Air Force Academy, a team from the local school walked away with a first place finish in one of the events.

Joseph Bazzanella - Mr. Baz to his students - brought stacking to Centennial last year after being introduced to the activity by an adaptive physical education teacher and made it a part of his curriculum. "She demonstrated this to me and I saw the validity in it," said Bazzanella. "The kids use both hands to do this and that develops ambidexterity."

That development of hand eye coordination and improved dexterity is something that translates directly to numerous other activities. Students involved in stacking often find that other activities that require the use of both hands become easier to master as a direct result of their involvement in stacking. Kids who play basketball, baseball, or practically any other sport that requires the use of both hands find that they are more adept with their off-hand after taking part in stacking exercises and that improved dexterity can be just as valuable for activities like playing a musical instrument and manipulating a computer keyboard. Bazzanella says stacking exercises can even help students become better readers.

"There are kids that have trouble tracking words across a page and this helps establish connections in doing that," said Bazzanella. "The more connections you can make doing that, the more it helps."

Besides the benefits to athletes, musicians and even readers, Bazzanella likes the fact that athletes and non-athletes alike are equally able to participate in stacking. Students who might not think of themselves as athletic can excel at stacking and that can help foster a positive self-image; allowing them to become not only more dexterous, but more confident as well.

So popular has stacking become at Centennial that 75 kids joined Bazzanella's stacking club [latest figures], arriving early at school just to be a part of that group and participate in the activity. Thirty of those kids ended up going to the state championships with several finish among the top stackers in the state.

Miles Cook started doing stacking last year and he admits he was reluctant when Bazzanella first introduced him to the new activity. But since then, he has become a devotee of sport stacking. "I didn't really want to do it, but Mr Baz had us do it and then I really got into it this year with Ben (Armas)," said Cook. "He had to help me with it at first, but now me and him like to race a lot. Sometimes he beats me and sometimes I beat him."

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