Have you ever tried to stack bottle caps?
Against those shaking odds, a Windsor, Ont., teenager has earned himself a Guinness World Record for the most bottle caps stacked in 30 seconds using chopsticks. That’s under the 16 years old category.
“I didn’t even know how to use chopsticks. A few days turned to a few weeks … from the beginning it was very, very difficult for me. So I just kept practicing. My determination really helped,” Daniel Joseph Ireneo told CBC News on Sunday.
The 14-year-old said he got the idea from the Guinness World Record 2020 book his mom gifted him when he was eight.
The most plastic bottle caps stacked in a tower using chopsticks in 30 seconds is 23, achieved by Silvio Sabba in Italy in 2018. Ireneo stacked 12 caps in 30 seconds on Aug. 13, just a couple of days before his birthday.
From three caps stacked to five to finally 12 in a towering column, Ireneo said it took hours and weeks of relentless practice to first build a strong foundation. Once he mastered that skill, the next herculean task was to improve the speed.
“I never knew that I would be a Guinness World Record,” he said. “Keep on going, have determination because you never know where it might take you.”
The Grade 9 student at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School, also popularly addressed as DJ, said he could not have accomplished this without the support of his parents.
He said there were times he had thought to call the quits but his parents kept “inspiring” him. DJ said he is looking forward to sharing the news with his peers Monday.
His mother Vivian Ireneo still remembers the August late night when after coming home tired from work, she was asked to videotape DJ’s efforts.
“I said, ‘DJ, it’s okay, just give up’. But he said ‘mom, no, I will never give up. I will do my best’. And then when he did it in 30 seconds, I was overwhelmed. I don’t know how to say. I’m still speechless,” she said.
Ireneo said her son kept practicing after school and always reaffirmed to her that “practice will make it perfect”.
“In turn, I told him all the time, put your feet on the ground, just be humble,” she said. “Our family in the Philippines is also rejoicing at his win.”
Madeline Butac, his aunt, said she was surprised at the young teenager’s persistence and triumph through it all.
“ I’m happy for DJ. We’re always supportive. He’s a good example for young kids to start doing things, not just video games, something which is worth trying and rewarding for them and builds more discipline.”
The family says it is very proud of the teenager’s hard work paying off and hopeful great things follow. As for the young champion, it’s a lesson to propel him further to his full potential and dreams of becoming a doctor.
“Most people and their success story, they just show you the good parts, but you never know the struggles they took, the dedication. So never give up. Struggle is important.”
