The 38-year-old pastor of Yahweh Christian Church in Harvard wanted to provide area youths with a good way to spend their time. The idea of stacking cups as a sport is a bit of a head-scratcher for some. Others, like Daniel Gezzi of Harvard, think sport stacking is a great way to challenge yourself and have a lot of fun.

“We have no Boys and Girls Club, and we have no community center,” Gezzi said. “The kids needed something to do.”

Gezzi learned about sport stacking while at IFEST 2005, an international festival of Christian puppetry and ventriloquism. While at the festival he noticed some kids sport stacking and got the idea to introduce it into his church. But before he could get the kids in his community to start stacking he had to answer one questions, many times. What exactly IS sport stacking?

“I’ve noticed how much more control I have of everything I touch, no matter if I’m using my right hand or left,” Gezzi said.

Sport stacking has been around since the early 1980s but has been building a stronger following lately thanks in part to Bob Fox, the founder of Speed Stacks Inc., and Roger Washburn who gave Gezzi a big hand in starting his own league, the Harvard Sport Stackers League.

“I told him what my goals were and what kind of program I wanted to start, and he donated almost everything,” Gezzi said.

Emily Fox’s record-setting performance shows that sport stacking can be exciting and competitive, but Gezzi says that setting world-record speeds isn’t what has to drive you to take up the sport.

“It depends on the person and their own ambition,” he said. “The best thing about it is that you’re competing against yourself to beat your own time.”

So far, Gezzi’s time in the cycle is a 14.08, and he’s got league members nipping at his heels for the best time.

“I think it is really fun and a good sport for after school. I’ll beat him (Gezzi) soon,” Julie Brain, 14, said. She’s one of the Harvard Sport Stackers League’s initial members along with her brother Chris, 12, and Daniel’s daughter, Destini, 5.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Chris said. “I never knew it was a sport until he taught us.”

Gezzi’s goal is to introduce sport stacking to the community and give area youths a new activity to be involved in.

We just have the heart for it, and we want to show it’s an awesome sport,” Gezzi said.

Q&A with Daniel Gezzi

* What is the last good book you read? “Praying with Confidence,” a booklet put out by RBC Ministries in Grand Rapids, Mich.

* What is your favorite movie? “The Passion of the Christ.”

* What is in your CD player right now? Sights and Sounds, a choir-orchestra that does praise and worship music.

* What is something you’ve always wanted to do? I’ve always wanted to tour the United States.

* Favorite saying: You ask anybody and they’ll tell you my favorite saying is, “Say what you mean and mean what you say.”

* Who are your role models? Honestly, I look to God to be my role model.

* What is the most daring thing you’ve ever done? Be a father.

* If you were to win the lottery, what would you do with the money? Build a huge church. I’ve always wanted to have a nice big church that could have a big gymnasium in it.

* If a movie was made about your life, who would play you? John Goodman (friends say Steve Baldwin).

* Your motto in life: Be fair and be true to yourself.

* My life is ... challenging because I am a pastor and missionary, and I think God tests me and challenges me to succeed.

"I am the children's Pastor at Assembly of God. Last year I did a stacking program at the local park. I was excited that there were almost forty children that participated. There are two children that I would like to focus on. There was a sister and brother who are dyslexic and often struggle with their grades. They participated for the summer program and did well in our tournament. In the school year that followed, their mother commented that her children - for the first time in their lives - aren't really struggling academically. The boy has had issues with his anger due to the dyslexia and feeling like he doesn't fit in. The entire year, both children received all A's and B's on their report cards. The boy did not have any trouble on the bus or in school. In previous years, he was removed from the bus due to fighting.

As I spoke with their mother, the only thing we could say that was different was that they participated in stacking. I feel that somehow stacking helped these two children with the ability to use parts of the brain that were in previous years not used. Thanks so much to stacking!! "

"Sport stacking has impacted my program at Fairfield
Church of the Nazarene by bringing in the unchurched from our community. My kids bring their friends from school and join sport stacking every week now. We started with 12, and during the school year, we average 40-plus kids. I have had parents tell me how much sport stacking has helped their kids with their confidence in school, sports and in many other discipline areas where they could not focus. I have so many stories I could share. I have a 6th-grade girl who is deaf, and her mother struggles with finding things that keep her attention, but she loves to sport stack and focuses so much better than she did a year ago. I have had two parents tell me how their kids have begun reading faster and who have placed two grades higher in reading over the last year. I have five kids who have worked hard and continue to beat their times and are trying to make it to the World Sport
Stacking Championships next spring. The coolest part of sport stacking is anybody can do it, and they feel so much better about themselves when they leave church. Not only have they learned a sport, but they have learned how it applies to God and their walk with Him."

"When I was told that we would be stacking cups with the children at vacation bible school the following day I couldn't possibly think of what I was going to be doing. While talking with my best friend (the pastor‘s son from the church where the vbs was taking place) we felt that stacking cups would be ridiculous.

We were given a DVD that came with the set that the church bought to watch. I hesitated before watching it, but just minutes into the video I was addicted to Speed Stacking. I realized that Speed Stacking was an awesome and unknown sport that was available to most anyone. While watching the video I was astonished at the hand eye coordination that it took to perform the task of stacking cups.

The next day I went to help with vacation bible school and found that the kids had already learned how to stack; they were really good. I practiced during our breaks (just so that I could keep up) and fell in love with the sport of Speed Stacking. I took every chance to watch the video and learn to make the placements with quality.

I enjoy stacking cups so much now that it is hard for me to leave the church when the time comes for me to go home.

I feel that this sport allows children to realize that its ok to make fumbles in life you just have to keep on practicing to make them not occur as often. This also allows the children to realize that God is always with you through all of life’s fumbles and mistakes and will guide you through them. With lots of practice and hard effort I hope to accomplish a lot with Speed Stacking. It's amazing that with only two days of stacking that I’m extremely satisfied with spending most of my day stacking cups. I can wait for the next school year to start and spread this awesome sport. Hopefully Speed Stacking will become a sport that is accepted by most as a great skill building sport for everyone to enjoy."

"What is so great about this sport is that it has built many bridges between the church and the kids and by the goodness of God I have had several of the kids from the clubs start attending my Sunday School time.

Here is a little bit about what we have done with sport stacking. I actually was introduced to sport stacking as I was ministering at a kids camp in March and April in Central PA. There was a gentlemen from NJ area that brought the game and the kids at camp were drawn to it and being a volunteer children's director at a new church I was excited to see that.

The following day I ordered a set for myself and started to use it in Sunday School for the kids. The kids responded positively and loved the sport. During our Sunday School the kids earn points toward a store at the end of the month. They earn points by reading bible, bringing a friend, memory verse and also by competing for the best time at the end of class with Stacking. I have tried many games in Sunday School but the children keep wanting to stack. As we planted a church in the central PA area in April I used the sport stacking in the outreaches to promote my Camp Kids Life which is a group of kids that meet once a week. My theme for the Camp Kids Life is "Camp once a week without leaving town". Stacking is a regular part of our weekly meeting.

While teaching the kids about sport stacking, I have used the approach of the video that comes with the cups. I show them the different approaches such as 3-6-3 or the cycle and free-styling. I am planning on starting an after school program as part of the ministry. I am excited to start building the relationships with the children. Stacking has been an awesome addition to the ministry."

Sport stacking is going wonderfully and I’m introducing it to all the local churches in our denomination.  Every time we get together for events, I set up tables for sport stacking.  They are loving it and very interested in starting programs at their church.  I’m getting the word out!!"