Mesoamerican Ball Game

The Mayans were hardworking people who lived in Mesoamerica. A thousand years ago before the spanish arrived, the maya built a great civilization. What many seem to question is what was so remarkable about what this group did.The four criterias scale, genius, physical effort and significance will be examined to see which was actually remarkable. People today argue over which Mayan achievement was the greatest - the trade network, numbers, calendars, and city-buildings , however true to say is that the building cities was the achievement that set the group off to great contributions.

The games that are most like Olmec Ball Game are basketball and soccer. It’s most like soccer because the game has the players kick the ball and never use their hands, and in basketball you have to score through a hoop which is also the same. According to Matthew Gross who works for newsela, football also connects to The Olmec Ball Game because only men were allowed to play Women weren’t allowed to play football. Another way it connects to football is because it was only played in Mesoamerica just like football is only played in America. The ball that is used to play the game is a solid rubber ball that is made out of natural latex, milky sap like fluid found in some plant. The ball was very dangerous, it was 10 to 30 cm in diameter and weighed from 500 g to 3.5 kg. This ball could easily hurt the players. The people who played would usually wear padding and protection to not get hurt from the heavy ball. A ballcourt was found dating to 1400 B.C. Also a model of a ballcourt from Nayarit in West Mexico shows that the the game was an important part of life in the ca. 300 B.C.–250 A.D. The main goal was to get a solid rubber ball through one of the rings. The players had to use their hands so it was harder than it seems. The team was made up of men only and had two or three people. There was a different and less popular version that made the players hit sticks. This ball game is so interesting and

The development of sports from their early stages, their metamorphosis and evolution to their current form and status is one of the most interesting areas of study. Unfortunately, most writers on such subjects only concentrate on the sport itself and players without exploring other ulterior factors that influence the development of a sport such as the emotional, economic and social environment. The book, Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball by Warren Goldstein is one of the few that have managed to avoid this perennial mistake. This paper is a review of the book,

In the book “Winning Is the Only Thing”, Randy Roberts and James Olsen unravel the true origins of sports and the post war effects on American sports. The book reveals the social, economic, racial, and worldly affairs that shaped sports in the U.S. Roberts and Olsen also explain how sports went from fun and games to winning being the only importance. The book begins with the cold war and its effects on the Olympic Games, demonstrating how the games were politicized. It then transitions with racial integration becoming a thing of the past, to the modernization of sports through mass media and technology. “Winning is the Only Thing” offers a variety of the historical stories, giving the readers factual insight on the controversial and scandalous sides behind the transformation of American sports. The book was informative and quickly covered the historical and evolutionary aspects of sports, keeping the book short, sweet and easy to read.

Sports, especially ones that involve a ball, are modern America’s favorite pastimes. Well, this was also true for the Mesoamerican people of the ninth century. While the event does not have a specific name, it is referred to as the Mesoamerican ballgame. Like basketball, this game was played on a long, rectangular court (Stokstad 405). The ball itself is said to be pretty heavy and rubber. Unlike basketball, the players wore protective gear because the actual sport of the game was to use everything but your hands to hit the ball. The object was to make it into the protruding stone goal, in which the ball would enter horizontally and not longitudinally. Some scholars suggest that perhaps the Mesoamerican ballgame was used in times of warfare,

The Iroquois tribe created the game of Lacrosse, originally called stickball. The word Lacrosse means “little war”. A spiritual leader would do a ritual with the men who were going to play before the game would start. He would burn tobacco and get the players ready to play. Any number of men could play at one time. There could be hundreds playing outside on an uneven field that extended up to a mile. They sometimes played for days. The game was believed to be spiritual in which they could give entertainment, and praise and thank the gods. They used long sticks, which were two to five feet long. The sticks had a net on the end that was made out of woven bark or rawhide string. The balls they used were either made of wood or hide filled with

First, the reading argues that the grooves and the hole on the surface of the carved balls indicate that people could hold and throw them for hunting and fighting. On the other hand, the lecturer refutes this claim and explains that the ancient weapons like arrows and hand weapons had a sign of wearing which there is no sign of it on the balls. Also, the surface of the ball is not cracked or broken and seems very well was preserved.

There I go again for another RW cougar baseball game and I see Charlie do great, He walks up to the plate and everyone cheers. The ball is pitched and as it crosses the plate, he swings at just the right time and smashes the ball right over the center fielder’s head and over the fence. As he jogs around the bases, everyone is cheering and I am in the stands dreaming about the day when that is me everyone is cheering for.

The first called, “Ulama de antebrazo”, where the main focus is with the players arms, and the second called, “Ulma de Cadera”, where the focus aspect of play on the human body is the hip. He sought evidence dating back to the Precolumbian past, arguing the solid rubber ball survived and was held consistent throughout prehispanic time. By studying the iconography, the symbolism, and its way of survival- we as readers see the mass amount of evidence swaying towards the importance the game held. This paper in particular shed new light on my research question by extensively dictating how the courts were constructed and the multifaceted forms of interpretive

Honestly I did not had an idea that the ballgame existed in the past civilizations, but more importantly I did not know all the important symbolic aspects of the game. As in the 21st century the game that I think is somewhat similar is soccer. It is a game that

There were benches raised at the top of the slopped walls for spectators to watch the games, also there were a few benches for them to sit on at the open ends of the court. Some of the courts were placed in ceremonial centers, this proves that the game meant a lot to the players during this time. Over 1,500 ball courts have been discovered and identified in just the last 20 years in Mesoamerica. Archaeologist have found that the courts if also used for more than just the games. Sometimes, depending on the culture they were used for ritual activities, such as musical performances and festivals, also the court was used for different sports like

"Gymnastics, vaulting, and handball were popular sports with both boys and girls" (Christensen 83). This quote from the book Empire of Ancient Egypt by Wendy Christensen tell us that gymnastics, vaulting and volleyball were popular sports much like modern day. Not only are the games from the modern day in Egypt, but the interests are the same. In America gymnastics is an olympic sport, and handball is taught in all schools of Westborough, Massachusetts. "Children played games much like today's: leapfrog, running and jumping, swimming, tug-of-war, ball games of many kinds, and a form of hopscotch." (Christensen 83). This quote represents the fact that not only modern sports were in ancient Egypt, but also modern day games that children play. Leapfrog is a modern day games that children play. Hopscotch is a popular kids game that as stated in this quote was played in ancient Egypt. After reading this one has to wonder if all of our games came from ancient Egypt, and therefore the people who say they created one of those games are in fact lying; people can only assume

Mayan culture existed a thousand years ago, in what is now part of Central America. Its ruins were almost entirely abandoned by 600 A.D, and were not rediscovered until the early 1500’s, by Spanish settlers. Mayan architecture astounded the early conquistadors, and continues to be of great interest to modern archeologists as well. These scientists have labeled a certain period of Mayan architectural history as the “Classic” period.

Balls back then were not like the tennis balls we know today. The balls were made of wood and the players would hit the ball into the wall with their bare hands until eventually it got so painful that they eventually incorporated leather gloves to take some of the pain away.

American society has many different types’ sports from all around the world. For example, the main two contemporary sports are basketball and football. Both sports require people, a ball, and open area to play in. However, these two sports are played differently. By comparing and contrasting basketball and football, we can examine them in terms of how they’re played, the amount of people in each teams, and the location the sports are being played in.