Maya descendants in Belize bring this sacred and ancestral game back to life with the ball

In Belize, the heart of the ancient Mayan civilization, is reborn one of the oldest sports in the world: the Pok-Ta-Pok, a team game that has its roots in over two thousand years of history. Today recognized as the national sport of the country, this ancient sports ritual is finding vigor thanks to the commitment of local communities, which keep their cultural and identity meaning.

An ancient Mayan tradition that combines sport, history and cultural identity

The playing fields of the Pok-Ta-Pok, with their elongated shape, the inclined sides and stone walls surmounted by vertical rings, find themselves in almost all the main Mayan archaeological sites. The game, which according to some scholars could derive from the Olmeca culture, was already widespread in Mesoameric – in regions today belonging to Mexico, Belize and Guatemala – over 2,000 years ago.

It was played with a ball of about 4 kg, made by the solidified lymph of the Panama rubber tree. Depending on the variants, the players hit the ball with the sides or with the forearms, trying to keep it always moving. The reliefs carved in Chichen Itza show male teams in action, and archaeologists believe that the stone signs on the fields served as references for the score.

The perfect blow could make the ball fly over 27 meters. According to the chronicles of the 17th century Catholic missionaries – divided between amazement and disapproval – it was marked by passing the ball through the ring, bringing it to the opponent’s “end zone” or hitting stone markers. In some solemn ceremonies, the game assumed a ritual meaning: some participants were sacrificed in honor of the myth of the Mayan creation, in which two twins defeated the Lord of the Oltrethomba in a game.

From the secret game to international competitions with teams of multiple continents

After centuries of oblivion, the Pok-Ta-Pok-today often called the Mayan hall-survived clandestine in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, until it was officially presented as a performance at the Olympics of Mexico City in 1968. Since then it has been transformed into an internationally regulated sport, with tournaments that see Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, Guatemala teams, and nine Mexican states.

In the United States there are teams in Las Vegas, East Los Angeles, Yuma (Arizona) and in San Bernardino Valley. The regulatory field measures 61 for 4 meters, and the players wear the fajado, a thong of leather and padded suede on the dominant side to hit the ball.

The modern rules provide for penalties if, in an attempt to raise the ball from a weak rebound, the player ends up sitting on it or hitting it with parts of the body other than the hips. A basket is worth 10 points, but in the semifinals and finals of tournament, marking through the ring involves an immediate victory. The company is far from simple: the diameter of the ring is almost identical to that of the ball.

Belize boasts a rose of about 40 athletes between youth teams, female and senior. The country has conquered the world title three consecutive times before being exceeded by Mexico in 2023.

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