Ullamaliztli: The Mesoamerican Ball Game, and Waging War with Sports

The Aztecs called it ullamaliztli, but the game is older than the Aztecs. Adopted by the Mayans and likely pioneered by the Olmec, today’s historians, in a stroke of un-inspiration, call it the Mesoamerican Ball Game. The game was a blood sport: a brutal contest where two teams kept a ten-pound rubber ball in play with only their hips and elbows (or, if they were lucky, a wooden racket). Sportsmen would suffer such heavy bruises that many, according to Spanish explorers, had to have said bruises drained to prevent infection. (Wikipedia, 2013) Plays within single games could last hours, and in later incarnations the game only ended when one team hit the ball through a narrow stone ring on the opposite end of the court. (Aztec-History.com, 2012)