Mayan Ball Game

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The ancient Mayans created the first organized team sport consisting of a ball and a goal called the ballgame. They used a rubber ball 20 inches in diameter which weighed up to eight pounds. Some balls even had human skulls at the core wrapped in strips of rubber to keep then hollow. Hollow balls were better than ones made out of solid rubber because they were lighter and gave the ball more bounce. The Mayans tried to put these balls through small stone hoops 23 feet high attatched to two 26 feet high walls sloping inward. The game was played on a court with fields the size of a football field, usually in a capital "I" or "T" shape. The object of game was to get the ball through one of the hops without letting it touch their hands, feet, or calves. Therefore, participants used elbows, knees, hips, and occasionally their heads to strike the ball. This was dangerous and required much skill. Using your head was not recommended because eight pounds of fast-moving rubber slamming into your skull is going to hurt. This is why players needed protection such as chin pieces, hard leather gloves, belts, wooden yokes around their hips, and quilted cotton elbow pads and kneepads. the wooden yokes were the most decorative of headdresses to show off during the sporting event. The Mayan ballgame had important religious relevance as well. In some Mayan areads, the winners were sacraficed, while in others the losers were sacrificed. According to their beliefs, human sacrifice was vital for the prosperity of everything they did. In places where the winners were sacrificed, the leader of the prevailing team would offer his head to the leader of the losing team, who beheaded him. It sounds like the captain a direct entry to heaven, bypassing the thirteen levels the Mayans thought they must go through to get there. Politics also had a role to play in the sport. Religious leaders, government officials and commoners attended the spectacle. Gambling was extremely profitable to the high members of society. The spot was also a way for rivaling cities to square off.

Mayan Sports

The ancient Mayans created the first organized team sport consisting of a ball and a goal called the ballgame. They used a rubber ball 20 inches in diameter which weighed up to eight pounds. Some balls even had human skulls at the core wrapped in strips of rubber to keep then hollow. Hollow balls were better than ones made out of solid rubber because they were lighter and gave the ball more bounce. The Mayans tried to put these balls through small stone hoops 23 feet high attatched to two 26 feet high walls sloping inward. The game was played on a court with fields the size of a football field, usually in a capital "I" or "T" shape.

The object of game was to get the ball through one of the hops without letting it touch their hands, feet, or calves. Therefore, participants used elbows, knees, hips, and occasionally their heads to strike the ball. This was dangerous and required much skill. Using your head was not recommended because eight pounds of fast-moving rubber slamming into your skull is going to hurt. This is why players needed protection such as chin pieces, hard leather gloves, belts, wooden yokes around their hips, and quilted cotton elbow pads and kneepads. the wooden yokes were the most decorative of headdresses to show off during the sporting event.

The Mayan ballgame had important religious relevance as well. In some Mayan areads, the winners were sacraficed, while in others the losers were sacrificed. According to their beliefs, human sacrifice was vital for the prosperity of everything they did. In places where the winners were sacrificed, the leader of the prevailing team would offer his head to the leader of the losing team, who beheaded him. It sounds like the captain a direct entry to heaven, bypassing the thirteen levels the Mayans thought they must go through to get there.

Politics also had a role to play in the sport. Religious leaders, government officials and commoners attended the spectacle. Gambling was extremely profitable to the high members of society. The spot was also a way for rivaling cities to square off.