The best season of ISSL has come to an end with a closing ceremony to honor the winners and participants of the championship. Held right after the boy's futsal finals, the event had people singing and dancing to the music being played as the room filled with athletes. A table on the stage displayed the trophies and medals that go to each sport’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and, the Most Valuable Players of every school. The head of ISSL from Nations called this season the most friendly and respected tournaments thanks to a renewed Code of Conduct and consensuses regarding rivalry.
Due to travel issues PASB, the Pan-American School of Bahia, had, the ceremony jumped right into awards so their athletes could be congratulated before leaving. The top 3 champions of ISSL II were called to the stage individually by team where they each received their medals, trophy and made their chant before migrating to the side where the team would take a photo with the ISSL logo. 3rd place in Futsal went to the EAR, American School of Recife, Eagles, and the British Schol of São Paulo, St. Paul’s Lions placed 2nd. Nations, the American School of the Federal District placed 1st place a few minutes before the ceremony commenced which meant the spirit of their supporters was still prominent. The Most Valuable Player award is rewarded to one person from every school’s team who statistically demonstrated the best performance. From EABH, Eduardo Calixto (92) was given the most valuable player for his excellent persistence throughout all the games despite their placement in 7th place.
For Girl’s Soccer, 3rd place was given to PASB, the Pan-American School of Bahia’s Panthers. EABH placed 2nd which although left EABH in tears, the girls strided their way onto the stage with the song “Dream On” by Aerosmith playing in the background. Nations’ Panthers won 1st place with a tie-breaking session of penalties after a tied game at 1 - 1 with the Hawks. The Most Valuable Player award was given to Gabriela Carvalho (9) who went up the stage with the rest of those awarded and the athletics directors for a series of photos.
The Boy’s Volleyball awards like the previous ones started with 3rd place, with St.Paul’s being given their individual medals and trophies. 2nd place went to the Catholic American School of Rio de Janeiro, Our Lady of Mercy (OLM). The all-time winners of boys' volleyball at EABH got onto the stage after the head organizer of ISSL announced their first-time victory. The MVP award fell in the hands of Edward Mason (2) who consistently made points for the team during the time he was in. The boys went to the side of the stage where photographers from the Daily Hawk Press and NR staff gathered to snap photos of the champions.
3rd place was given to PASPOA, the Pan-American School of Porto Alegre, and 2nd to OLM as well. EABH’s other volleyball champions went up to chant before Marcela Borlido (5) went back up to receive her MVP award.
Announced in the opening ceremony, the overall champions of the tournament collected the most points with higher placements in nearly every sport. Every athlete and coach from EABH posed in front of the projected banner titled “Overall Champion” with the Hawks Athletics logo in the middle. Further proving how EABH was the winner of ISSL this season, conquering every obstacle that came their way and maintaining focus and persistence in every sport and social interaction. All 8 participating schools could agree that the conflicting nature of sports competitions wasn’t as prominent as they’ve been in past ISSLs as every team was united and good sports.
The ISSL closing ceremony was concluded with final acknowledgments made for the NR staff that cooked the delicious food in the cafeteria, cleaned and managed the grounds, as well as streamed the games live for family, friends, and teammates to watch. The final song played was “We Will Rock You” by Queen, which is well known as the Hawk’s anthem at EABH, letting the victory as a school truly sink in. As everyone exited the room to head back to the dorms where they packed their luggage, fulfilled after seeing hard work pay off.
EABH congratulates the athletes, coaches, and press for the hard work that most definitely paid off. Coach Laura, and Coach Jill who coached Volleyball, Coach Sandro for Soccer, and Coach Claudio for Futsal cultivated a family of athletes who brought fulfillment and pride to the school. Two golds and a silver, a truly historic moment for EABH.