Big 8 – A Full Report

What is Big 8

Big 8, more commonly known as Rancho, is probably one of the most exciting seasons for EAC as it is an opportunity to show all that was learned in sports practice during the semester and bring home the pride and a trophy to shine over the gym for the following years. It is an opportunity to inscribe your name in EAC history! This season’s Varsity Boys Futsall, Varsity Girls volleyball, and Varsity Cheerleading teams brought back fulfillment and satisfaction! 

The Big 8 Tournament is a league, held in the NR 2 camps, with 8 international schools. This year we had: EARJ, Escola Americana do Rio de Janeiro; EAC, Escola Americana de Campinas; ISC, International School of Curitiba; PACA, Panamerican Christian Academy; Graded School; Chapel School; Sant´anna; EAB, Escola Americana de Brasília. Whoever places first and second, is invited to participate in the final four tournament, where they will play against the second and first place of the ISSL league. The ISSL is a league of other international schools in Brazil.  

Boys Futsal 

This season the boy’s futsal had an impressive run. The team arrived on Sunday and started the tournament with a quick practice to get their heads focused on the game. On the first day, Monday the 8th, the boys played their first game against PACA, having an impressive win 3 to nothing. Unfortunately losing their winning streak, the boys lost their second game of the day against Chapel 3-1. Because of their lost game on the first day, their second day needed to be stellar, and fantastically in their game against Sant´Anna, they won scoring 3 goals and only taking 1. Because of this win the boys qualified for the semi-finals later on the same day. The semis were played against the EAB Bulls, where our boys won 2 to 1 being qualified for the finals on the following day. The semi was one of the most exciting games of the season, with the support of various other schools of the bleachers. After their great efforts during the game, the boys were rewarded with a pizza night. To conclude their season the boys played their final! Their competition was Chapel, a school they had unfortunately lost against on their first day. Unfortunately, they lost against them again, but this time 2-0. Their position in the league was second place, the first runners-up. Due to this placement, they can go to Belo Horizonte to play the final four, where they have to opportunity to win against Chapel and bring home the first-place trophy. 

Girls Volleyball

The girls, upon arrival also had the opportunity to have a quick practice session to refresh after the long trip to NR 2. Unfortunately on their first day of the season, Monday, they started with a bad turn and lost their first game against Santa´anna 2 to 1. In their second game, the girls brought their giant spirit and fought for a win against Chapel, winning 2 sets. Their next day was tough as they had to beat their first rival, EAB, but with a large point difference to be able to qualify for the semifinals. Their win, 2-1, was strong but unfortunately not strong enough to guarantee a place in the semis. They were instead placed in the fight for 5th or 7th, against PACA, winning 2-0. Because of their strong second day, they were able to play fighting for 5th place against Graded which they unfortunately lost 2 to 0, placing 6th place. 

Cheerleading 

This season, cheerleading participated in a sports camp, this is a 2 to 3 days where teams come together with a cheerleading specialist, Andes League, to learn specific skills and improve for their next competition season.  Andes League is a Chilean all-star team, with teachers that are part of the Chile team and will compete in the worlds this year. 

EACs cheerleading team arrived in NR 2 on Sunday and already started their season with a class, where the team learned the dance that would be presented on Tuesday. On their second day, Monday, the team started with a Stunt class. A stunt consists of a backspotter, a side base, and main base, and a flyer that will do figures on top of the base’s hands or shoulders, with the support of the backspotter. In the class, EAC had the participation of ISC, a new cheer team. And in this practice, basic stunts were learned. Although the EAC was proficient in this it was important to return to the basics to start. In the class, the sponge and prep stunt position was learned, together with the passing full and liberty. 

Sponge level, Prep level, full level, Liberty

In their second class of the day, all of the cheerleading teams came together and focused on conditioning for the split and wolf jump and preparation for the presentation on the following day. In the final class of the day, the teams focused on advanced stunts, including TicTocs, which is the switching of legs in the liberty positions, quarter turn on the mount of a stunt in prep level, and switch up in the mount, switching legs in liberty position while mounting to prep level. 

Toe touch, Wolf jump

The next day, all cheerleaders had a three-hour long class to learn the sideline chant for the presentation, prepare the dance, and choreograph the presentation. EAC decided to demonstrate their strength in tumbling and performed a tumbling pass consisting of roundoff to pirouette, into a front roll that lifted into a cartwheel, and finally a one-handed cartwheel. The team also counted on Vitoria Lacombe for an aerial, a no-handed cartwheel. The presentation can be accessed on this link. After the presentation, EAC already went into their last class where they learned more advanced stunts and pyramid skills (joint stunts).

To conclude their season, on their last day, the EAC Varsity Cheer team went to the award ceremony and was awarded first place, along with Igor Toribio being awarded the sportsmanship award. 

EAC Cheerleading team, had a great disappointment this season, the unfortunate lack of support from people in our school, during the presentation on Tuesday, the Futsal boys were sleeping instead of supporting a fellow team, nonetheless a team that supported the volleyball and futsal teams, by watching and cheering for all of the games in the season, even though they had to practice and present as well. 

The toll on IB students 

Because the Big 8 season takes place during classes, seniors and juniors miss a lot of lessons and once returning most felt a toll on their mental health having to deal with stress, and on their grades, having to come to school knowing all the missed content for tests and activities 

Student Evaluations: 

• Senior: Emma Bergman from the volleyball team
  •  “Rancho is a moment where students, like any other school event, represent the giants. Students practice, work hard, and give their best when Rancho arrives, represent and honor the school’s name. In the IB specifically, as the exams are approaching it is very troublesome losing class. 

• Junior: Igor Toribio from the cheerleading team
  • “Going back to school after rancho is quite stressful, there were a variety of different biology, English, Portuguese and more assignments that I had missed out on and they all piled up for me to do on the weekend. In addition to being swamped with work, I was also physically exhausted so paying attention in class was also difficult, had our return been on the weekend or had certain teachers prepared a bit of content for the rancho students to study prior to going I believe it would have been easier.”

For this reason, students need to understand the privilege it is to go to the Big 8 tournament. Grades must be held up, grade checks should be met, and there is a great responsibility to independently learn any content missed.