Problem:

The eight students in one of the groups in a gym class are standing in a circle evenly spaced from each other.  They are told to toss a rubber ball clockwise around the circle so each pass skips two students.  The first student starts with a ball and tosses it clockwise so that it goes to the fourth student who then passes it to the seventh student and so forth.  How many passes does it take for the first student to get the ball if this pattern continues?