A CUP ABOVE
Smithfield man is one of the world’s best at ‘sport stacking’
SMITHFIELD – In the world of sports, speed is universally esteemed. Usain Bolt ran the 100-meter dash in 9.58 seconds. Aroldis Chapman threw a 105 mph fastball. Joey Chestnut ate 74 hot dogs in 10 minutes. When it comes to sport stacking, local resident Peter Ford strives to be the fastest and to have his name etched into the history books alongside the breakneck best in the world.
Eleven years ago, then-10-year-old Ford was playing in gym class at Vincent J. Gallagher Middle School. It was there that he learned about “sport stacking,” the ability to stack cups in pre-determined sequences as fast as possible.
With speed being the name of the game, fast-forward 11 years later and Ford, now 21, is the 20th-ranked male sport stacker in the world and will be one of 300 youth stackers participating in the Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympic Games this weekend in Des Moines, Iowa.
His love of sport stacking began as a hobby, as Ford explains: “I really liked the time concept, beating your own time. I bought a set and continued doing it from there.”
As is the case with most sports, practice made perfect for Ford, as he concedes he was “not very good at the start. It took me about a year before I was at a pretty decent level, but improving is always different between stackers. It can take a short amount of time or a longer time.”
Within a year of learning the sport, Ford was competing in his first event, finishing second place at a tournament in Sprague, Conn. The next year, he returned to the Nutmeg State and came back home to the Ocean State with first place.
“I knew I could perform well under pressure and since then, I’ve competed in 34 tournaments across the country,” he said.
Back in 2008 when Ford started, every stacker’s goal was to get a sub-six-second time in cycle stack, which is 49 different moves. According to Ford, “getting under six seconds is a very big deal.”
But like Roger Bannister’s sub-four-minute mile – which was considered unthinkable when he achieved that mark in 1954 – as the years have gone by, records have been smashed. Now, Ford says, a sub-five-second mark is the new benchmark for the world’s most elite stackers. Showing just how adept he is, Ford was the third person in the world to stack in under five seconds, which he accomplished in December 2014.
“It was a really great feel- ing. I knew once I hit that mark, improvement would pretty much be over,” Ford said. “It’s very impossible under four … 4.5 (seconds) is the closest. At that time, I was the third person and now only 22 have done it. It’s still incredibly rare to have that happen.”
As one of the world’s premier stackers, Ford will take his cups and his lightning speed to the Junior Olympic Games in Des Moines, Iowa this weekend. Sport stacking is now in its seventh year as one of the 20 competitive sports at the Junior Olympic Games.
Over the past 20 years, sport stacking has become one of the most popular school-based sports in the country, with more than 47,000 school and club programs in 54 countries around the world. Officials and competitors alike tout is as a combination of fitness, agility, concentration, and quickness.
“You don’t need to be the most athletic, it doesn’t matter how tall or skinny you are, this sport is for anybody,” Ford said. “That’s what made me want to compete. Doing it is the competitive part of it. I love to compete with people on my level. The aspect of beating your time made me want to go for the best and continue being the best.”
“When I started, I was very passionate about improving and competing and over the years I still care about that a lot. I’ve stayed with the sport because I made so many friends. Anytime I go to a tournament, it’s to see friends and also I end up placing well,” he said. From February 2017 to February 2018, Ford finished in the top five at 11 consecutive tournaments.
This is the second year in which Ford is competing at the Junior Olympic Games. During the 2017 Games in Detroit, he won his age division and placed fifth in the entire tournament. But this year, he’s going for gold.
“To win it would feel really good … I’m really excited to compete at the Junior Olympic Games again, it’ll feel really good to compete at a high level. It feels good to compete,” he said. “Bringing that back this summer will be a good feeling. I’m excited and nervous at the same time. I want to do well but I have that competitive part on the mind.”
But to become the best in the world, Ford will have to overcome a cut thumb that he suffered while at work. Despite the injury, Ford says, he’s not going to let that bring his performance down.
“I’ll compete as if it never happened,” he said confidently, sounding akin to Tom Brady before taking the field with a bandaged hand before the start of the 2018 American Football Conference Championship Game.