EAST GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — You won't find this sport under Friday Night Lights, but it's fast, fierce and earned an East Grand Rapids graduate a world championship.
Will Allen, 19, is one of the fastest cup stackers in the world. The East Grand Rapids native started the sport, also called sport stacking, when he was just 9 years old after seeing a YouTube video.
"I saw some YouTube video and I was just so enamored by for whatever reason, I was like, I want to do this. Like, this is so cool," Allen said.
Adding that the first cups he ever used were IKEA cups from his moms cabinet. The sport is something he says "scratches his brain."
Cup stacking involves racing the clock to build and break down specific formations of plastic cups in seconds. Despite its simplicity, Allen says the sport requires immense practice and precision.
"Your brain isn't hard-wired to complete a task like that so efficiently, unless you put in so much practice," Allen said.
Allen's speed and skill earned him a trip to the 2025 World Championships in Switzerland in April, where he came home with the championship title. He followed that up with a U.S. National Championship in July and also holds two Guinness World records.
"It was just very rewarding. I proved myself that day to myself. I proved myself to my peers and stackers everywhere," Allen said about how he felt after finding out he had won the World Championship.
Allen's mother, Jeanna Allen, says the sport has been a great fit for her son, who didn't love traditional sports growing up.
"I would highly recommend this for children who are not, you know, a typical sports child," Jeanna Allen said. She added that Will had tried many different sports and didn't really love them the way he did cup stacking. Jeanna speaks highly about the community and says, "We have really, really good friends now, and we go on vacations with them. It's really a community, a sense of community, a sense of family."
Will says with cup stacking, no one has an advantage, "You don’t need to be like, tall or fast. I’m neither of those things, but I’m good at stacking. You know, it’s a completely level playing field.”
Allen plans to keep competing, and credits his success to constantly practicing the sport to get better.
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