Schoolboy stacks ‘em high in bid for Irish team place

A LIMERICK schoolboy, with lightening fast hand-eye co-ordination, is hoping to book his place on the Irish team to travel to the US next month for a major international sports championships.

Fifteen-year-old Tadhg Bogan-Carey recorded extremely fast times in all of his competition classes in the World Sport Stacking Championships in Denver last April.

Now the sports-mad teenager is one of dozens expected to stack specially-designed cups in pre-determined sequences against the clock when he competes in the Fruice Dilute Irish Sport Stacking Championships in St Patrick’s College in Dublin on Saturday next.

Tadhg was among the fastest of the Irish team to compete in Denver last year. He recorded lightening fast times of 2.66 in the 3-3-3 sequence; 3.41 seconds in the 3-6-3 and 11.88 in the “cycle”.

He also joined forces with John O’Neill from Galway in a doubles competition, matched his personal best and finished in 18th place out of hundreds of entries.

Tadhg attends Ard Scoil Rís and his mum, Diana travelled to Denver with him last year, along with the three other Irish team members and their coach, Michael Nolan, a graduate of the University of Limerick.

He said: “Speed Stacks are great. Because the timer is very precise, you are constantly challenged to do better. The personal achievement of shaving parts of a second off your personal best is unreal. As well as Sport Stacking, I play hockey, basketball and tennis and love magic and card tricks. Speed Stacks are great and as well as boosting your mental agility, they are also good fun.”

Sport stacking is massive in the US and China and has been taking Irish schools and clubs by storm.

Irish promoter Mr Nolan is searching for the fastest stackers in the country. With the support of Fruice Dilute, the Kilkenny-based entrepreneur is hosting the first ever Fruice Dilute Irish Championships in the sports hall of St Patrick’s College in Drumcondra, Dublin 9 on Saturday next.

Registration and entry is free and the competitions begin at 9.30am.

The fastest finalists will represent Ireland at the World Championships in Dallas in mid-April and bid for the title of the World’s Fastest Stacker.