Eames representing Delaware at Sport Stacking Championships

Delaware will have one representative at the 2025 AAU Junior Olympic Games Sport Stacking Championships: rising Fred Thomas Middle sixth-grader Luke Eames.

“I was invited to it because I was at the Mid-Atlantic competition in New Jersey,” Eames said. 

Luke, named after Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, is 11 and has been stacking cups since he was 4 years old. Cup stacking, or speed stacking, is a table sport played on a special mat equipped with a button to stop a clock after the participant has taken a stack of cups, formed shapes and returned those cups back into the stacks.

“He's had a lot of hobbies, with him being highly functioning autistic; oftentimes, as soon as he would start a hobby, it would be gone within a week or so,” said Nikki Eames. “We've had a lot of hobbies – a lot of collections – but it's been a constant for him for many, many years.”

“There was a cup-stacking video that was recommended to me on YouTube on the TV in our living room, and I thought it was really cool,” Eames said. “I really wanted to do that, and basically the rest is history.”

At the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, N.J., Eames took third in his age group and finished 27th overall, earning his invitation to the 2025 AAU Junior Olympic Games in Houston, Texas, July 25-27. It was his first in-person competition.

“I felt kind of nervous at first, but then as the day went on, it just felt more comfortable,” Eames said.

“There were kids [there] that he had followed on YouTube. They recognized him too, and they had subscribed to his channel, so it was the cutest thing,” Nikki said. “I was chuckled because it was so cute to see all the kids getting so amped up and excited about one another – just so supportive. They're all competitive, but it's a different kind of competitive – you can tell that everybody's genuinely happy and supportive of each other.”

The experience was surreal for Eames, but something he earned, like his trip at the end of July. 

“We're proud of him, especially for how far he's come,” said Luke’s father Ryan Eames. “He practices every day for hours on end.”

The Eameses are a happy family of five. Luke has a younger brother, Connor, who attends Lewes Elementary and a 1-year-old brother, Oliver. Nikki stays at home to take care of the baby and two older boys, when not at school, while Ryan supports the family with his income. 

While the proud papa provides a good life for his family, the $6,000 price tag associated with Luke’s trip to the finals is a hefty bill for any family to take on, particularly in these times of economic uncertainty. To that end, Ryan has started a GoFundMe at gofundme.com/f/get-luke-to-the-junior-olympics-in-houston.

“We're also looking for sponsorships if anybody's interested in that as well,” Ryan said.

Sponsors are usually on the T-shirts of the stackers and will be seen on the Stack Fleet YouTube channel, which will be streaming the event, in addition to their own channels.

Luke’s channel, LukeTheStacker, features more than 1,200 videos and has 124 subscribers. Most of the videos showcase Luke’s ability to execute a 3-3-3, 3-6-3 and what is called a cycle. He has recorded himself taking just 2.028 seconds to perform a 3-3-3, 2.565 seconds on a 3-6-3 and 6.781 seconds on the cycle. An avid Mountain Dew drinker, Luke also has a few reviews of the citrus soda’s various off-shoots.

Luke will be one of more than 15,000 athletes competing in the 2025 games, but he will be the only stacker from Delaware in the competition. Houston will be the focal point of the summer for the Eames family, and while at the competition, one of the social activities will be attending a Houston Astros game against the Athletics, where Luke may see another Cape-area athlete, Zack Gelof.

Over the next few weeks, the Eameses will be handing out flyers that highlight Luke’s achievement and have information on how to contribute, if able.

For more information on Luke or how to contribute to the Houston trip, email Ryan at rke316@hotmail.com or Nikki at babyeames2014@gmail.com.