Today (12/02) marked the beginning of the AASB Final Four tournament hosted at Graded, the American School of São Paulo. It is the national competition for American schools’ sports, in which 4 schools compete for each modality. EABH guaranteed their spot by winning second place for both girls soccer and boys basketball at the International Schools Sports League (ISSL). Hereby present are eleven schools: Graded, British, St. Paul’s, OLM, EAB, EAC, PASB, EARJ and, of course, our beloved EABH.
The Hawks got their well deserved night of sleep after arriving in São Paulo late last night and left the Radisson Blu hotel at 7:15am for the tournament. At Graded, the participating schools met to watch the opening ceremony; athletes were introduced to the public and ran across the gym in celebration. EABH did their usual thing and presented itself with excitement and pride! Following, both Brazilian and American national anthems were beautifully performed by Graded’s band in a touching key, providing a moment of unity.
A cheerleading presentation, also by Graded (even though OLM’s cheerleaders made the trip to São Paulo, besides their athletes not classifying), lifted everyone’s spirits. The girls were very coordinated and managed to dance through a very long routine without messing any steps up. The song choice, however, was poor: a very loud pop music mashup that got tiring after a few minutes. Still, it was a very well rehearsed, impressive performance.
To conclude the ceremony and officially get the event going, motivational speeches were given by Graded’s student athletic representatives, asking all athletes present to be respectful in and out of the courts and, most importantly, enjoy this amazing opportunity. Further today, the Hawks have a basketball match against EARJ at 11am and the Lady Hawks play soccer against Graded at 2:30 pm. Let’s go!
