Stacks on for Molly

By Ben Hope
FOR Clyde resident Molly Hallam, speed is everything when she competes in her chosen sport.
The eight-year-old St Margaret’s School student is part of the 2010 Australian Sport Stacking Team and will head to Denver, Colorado this April to compete with the best in the sport.
She will compete in the eight-year-old division at the World Sport Stacking Championships and help make up the nine-person Australian Stackaroos team as they fight it out for the world title.
For the uninitiated, sport stacking is both an individual and team sport where competitors stack and then unstack 12 specially designed cups in a pre-determined sequence.
In the individual event the competitors race against the clock and in team relays the competitors race head to head.
Molly started the sport stacking when she started school at St Margaret’s, one of 350 schools across Australia that compete in the fast-growing sport.
She enjoys the challenge of trying to beat her own personal best times across the different events, where times will vary depending on the number of cups used and the sequence of stacking required.
“I like it because it’s exciting breaking your personal best records and you can do it with your friends,” she said.
“I will be trying to break my personal best times when I go to America for the world championships.”
To become a champion in the sport Molly practices for an hour a day and her current best times reflect the hard work she has put in. Her best times across the range of events in the sport are consistently edging closer to world records.
“I stop and have five-minute breaks when I am practicing to have a bit of water, it can be hard work,” she said.
“Just after I started stacking I went to a competition and watched everyone else compete. They made it look easy, but when you try it yourself it can be really hard.”
In the past year Molly has already had multiple successes at national and international competitions, including the New Zealand Sport Stacking Championships and the Australian championships where she was ranked first in her age group.
At the Victorian primary school championships in November she was also first in the eight-year old category, as well as earning the fastest overall time.
Molly will also compete in the father-daughter challenge at the world championships with her father Tyron Hallam. Hallam is the education officer at Speed Stacks, as well as the Australian coach for the World Sports Stacking Association (WSSA).
As a Physical Education teacher for the past 16 years, Hallam said he accepted the position at Speed Stacks because of the multiple benefits of the sport.
“Self-esteem is one of the big benefits. It’s about setting your own times and setting yourself goals and practicing to achieve them.”
“It also improves hand-eye co-ordination and uses both hands which is great for ambidexterity. Exercising both hemispheres of the brain is also great for brain development.”
Despite the growing popularity of the sport, the speed stacking teams are unfunded and the team will have to pay for itself to get to the world championships.
“It’s a young sport. We don’t qualify for any sports grants funding, the kids basically have to raise the funds themselves through fund-raising and sponsorship.”
Molly is currently on the lookout for sponsors to help get her to America and cover her accommodation and travel expenses. Anyone interested in sponsorship or to find out more about sport stacking can contact Tyron Hallam on 5998 5424.