Week 1

Warm Up (5 minutes)

3-3-3 (10 minutes)
1. Teach beginners the 3-3-3.
2. Have players who already know it practice the 3-3-3 making sure they’re using best technique.
  Training Tips:
  - Grab cups towards the top instead of towards the bottom
  - Downstack the last 3 with one hand
  - Help players determine if they are right-handed or left-handed stackers. Typically, right handed stackers upstack and downstack moving from left to right always starting their upstack with their right hand and moving cups to the left. Left-handed stackers upstack and downstack from right to left starting with their left hand and moving cups to the left. If you see a right handed stacker starting on the right side with their right hand, this may be less efficient for them because their arms have to cross each other. (video?)
3-6-3 (10 minutes)
1. Teach beginners the 3-2-1 method of upstacking a 6 stack and then teach them the 3-6-3
2. Have players who already know it practice the 3-6-3.
  Training tips:
  - Make sure the stacker’s thumb is at the middle of the cup instead of near the bottom rim of the bottom cup of the three or 2 cups they are lifting up. Their middle, ring and pinky fingers should be on the edges of the cups they are lifting up to make sure they can easily upstack them by dropping them out of the bottom of the stack. (video?)

Tic Tac Stack
- Materials: cups, mats and timers plus paper and pencil
  1. Pair up players.
  2. One player is x’s and one is o’s.
  3. Draw a tic tac toe board
  4. Decide which stack you are going to use to race.
  5. One player says Ready, Set, Go.
  6. Players use their timers to race and complete the chosen stack.
  7. The player who is fastest gets to put their mark on the tic tac toe board.
  8. Continue playing until someone wins tic tac toe.
  9. Match different players up with each other to challenge your players.
Four Square Stacking
- Materials: cups, mats and timers
  1. Put players in groups of 4.
  2. Each person sets up their cups, mat and timer on the table.
  3. Just like in 4 square on the playground, figure out which square is the King so you know which places are assigned King, Queen, Jack and Peasant.
  4. The King decides what stack everyone will do.
  5. The King says Ready, Set, Go and everyone races.
  6. The best time goes to the King spot and everyone else shifts lower down on the table.
  7. Continue play for multiple rounds.
Independent stacking
1. Have players work on their own to practice the 3-3-3 and the 3-6-3.
2. Set up a Personal Best (PB) board so stackers can post their best times.