BOISE — On Tuesday morning, fourth and fifth graders at Cecil D. Andrus Elementary filed into the gym for P.E. class — and to break a world record.

They aimed to achieve the record for the most people sport stacking at multiple locations.

But what is sport stacking? Sometimes called a “track meet for your hands at warp speed,” participants use a set of solid-color plastic cups that they must stack and “down stack” in different sequences as quickly as possible, according to a press release about the event, which is overseen by the World Sport Stacking Association.

And when done in combination with other activities, such as tag, sport stacking becomes a physically demanding activity, too.

“I think it’s good for all ages,” said Angela Rodgers, physical education and health teacher at the school. “The harder stacks are going to be more fun for the older kids, but I was doing it with kindergarten classes yesterday and last week, and it’s just good hand-eye coordination,” she said. It’s also helpful for kids learning “left” and “right” she said.

“Plus, we didn’t want to just sit here, so that’s why we do a lot of running,” she said.

In 2019, schools around the world competed in the World Sport Stacking Associations’ STACK UP! event, setting the record with 638,503 stackers participating in multiple locations, the release said. This year, the West Ada students are participating along with students across the U.S. and in countries such as Taiwan, Colombia, and New Zealand to set a new record, the release said.

Students at Meridian Elementary School are also participating over the next several days to help break the record, Rodgers said.

To start each 30-minute gym class, each Andrus student sat on the floor with a set of stacking cups, and Rodgers taught them some basic sequences. First, a pyramid of three cups, two on the bottom and one on top. She reminded the kids that just like basketball, there are rules to sport stacking. For example, you always have to alternate hands when stacking and down stacking cups.

From there, the kids graduated to stacking and down stacking three pyramids of three cups. Once they had that down, it was time for a game of builders and bulldozers. The builders would find a set to build into three pyramids of three cups, while the bulldozers would down stack an already-built set. Later, the groups would switch roles.

Most importantly, students needed to keep moving; they couldn’t wait around near a set to bulldoze it or build it as soon as someone else was done, Rodgers said.

“No puppy-guarding!” students in one fifth grade class echoed.

Rodgers played songs like “Blue” by Eiffel 65 and “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves to get the energy going during game time. Despite the lack of puppy-guarding, most stacks were barely built before they were down stacked, as the kids jogged from set to set.

Next, it was time to learn to create a six-cup, pyramid-shaped stack. Unlike building a three-cup pyramid, the six-cup sequence requires players to take multiple cups in each hand, then drop them one by one into formation and down stack them.

With the six-cup sequence down, it was time to combine everything they had learned with a game of tag. Anyone could tag anyone, but if you got tagged, you needed to stack and down stack a set of cups in a three, six, three sequence.

If you tagged someone and got tagged at the same time, use rock-paper-scissors to decide who would go stack, Rodgers said.

The music back on, kids flew to the edges of the room to tag and avoid being tagged. But soon, the tagged were on the floor again, stacking and down stacking as fast as they could to get back tagging.

When it was time to go back to the classroom, Rodgers polled the classes: Whose heart is beating medium to fast? Who is breathing a little faster? Who is sweating? Most kids’ hands shot up. That’s a sign of good exercise, Rodgers said.

One student, Dominic, had some familiarity with the sport coming into the class because his sister had played, but the past week had been his first real learning experience with the cups, he said. It’s not the easiest to learn, he said. Some say the sport is easy to learn, and tricky to master, the release said.

“It’s good for concentration,” Dominic said.

Rielyn, a fifth grader, was concentrating very hard to get the six-cup pyramid right. He learned to remember to alternate hands to make the down stacking easier. By the end, he felt more confident than when he had come in.

“I’m ready to go home and buy these,” he said.

The event is taking place between Tuesday and Thursday, Nov. 18, the release said. Students will likely learn whether they helped break the record on Friday morning, Rodgers said.