The 3,500-Year-Old Sport That’s Making a Comeback: Inside Belize’s Pok-Ta-Pok Revival

Maya descendants in Belize revive pok-ta-pok, the 3,500-year-old ballgame that's now the country's national sport. From world championships to sacred traditions.

Deep in the verdant heart of Belize, something extraordinary is happening. Maya descendants are breathing new life into pok-ta-pok, the world’s oldest team ballgame. What was once a sacred ritual that could mean life or death for ancient players has transformed into something equally remarkable: Belize’s national sport.

The story reads like something from a Hollywood script, yet it’s beautifully real. Belize’s team Ek’ Balam (meaning “Black Jaguars” in Yucatec Maya) dominated the sport for years, winning three consecutive World Cup championships in 2017, 2019, and 2021, before Mexico finally reclaimed the title in 2023. But this isn’t just about modern athletic achievement—it’s about cultural resurrection.

When Rubber Balls Ruled Mesoamerica

The origins of pok-ta-pok stretch back into the mists of time, with evidence suggesting the game was played as early as 1650 BCE. Some scholars trace its roots even further back to the Olmec civilization—that mysterious “mother culture” of Mesoamerica. The oldest ballcourt discovered dates to approximately 1400 BC at Paso de la Amada, while rubber balls from El Manatí have been carbon-dated to around 1700-1600 BC.

Think about that for a moment: while most of the world was still figuring out bronze tools, the peoples of Mesoamerica were already perfecting what would become humanity’s most enduring team sport. Over 1,300 ballcourts have been identified across the region, 60% of them discovered in just the last 20 years. These weren’t just recreational facilities—they were the cathedrals of their time.

The Sacred Physics of the Game

The game itself defies easy description. Imagine trying to play soccer with a bowling ball, using only your hips, elbows, and knees. The ball was made from the solid, nonvulcanized sap of the Panama rubber tree (Castilla elastica) and weighed up to 9 pounds (4.1 kg)—roughly the weight of a small bowling ball. A single, well-planned strike could send the rubber sphere flying as far as 90 feet (27.4 meters) across the court.

Modern players wear a fajado—a padded loincloth that protects the hips, which are essential for controlling the heavy rubber sphere. The hard bone of the iliac crest is what players use for rebounding the ball either into the air or across the ground. Touch the ball with any other body part, and you’re penalized. Athletes may not push, tackle or block another player.

The scoring system varies depending on the competition level. To score in pok-ta-pok, the ball must pass through the double ring suspended 13 feet (4 meters) above the ground. In regular matches, scoring through the stone ring nets 10 points, but during semifinals and finals, it’s an automatic victory. This is how Mexico unseated Belize, the three-time world champion, in 2023.

The Spiritual Dimension

What sets pok-ta-pok apart from modern sports isn’t just its ancient pedigree—it’s the profound spiritual dimension that modern players have preserved. “In modern sports, all the sacredness has been taken out,” says one player. “You get a bunch of people getting drunk, being loud. That’s not how we do it. No one is allowed to drink or indulge in any substances when we play. This is a sacred game, and when we play, we play with honor.”

The game connects directly to Maya cosmology and creation mythology. In the Popol Vuh, a 16th-century recounting of centuries-old Maya creation stories, the hero twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque avenge their father and uncle by triumphing over the lords of the underworld in a ballgame. The ball is kept in constant motion throughout the game, a nod to the Maya philosophy of the unity of opposites, where human and divine realities meet.

From Colonial Suppression to Modern Revival

The Spanish colonizers weren’t fans of the game. “There’s a real focus on the body, which is not very Christian. Christianity encouraged not being distracted by the pleasures of life,” notes Christopher von Nagy, an anthropologist at the University of Nevada, Reno. “Mesoamericans were the opposite. The game was about the body, about motion and celebrating what our bodies can do.”

Despite colonial suppression, Indigenous communities in the Mexican state of Sinaloa continued to practice it in secret, and they eventually spread the game farther afield. The modern renaissance began with an exhibition played in Mexico City during the 1968 Summer Olympics, when players from Sinaloa played an exhibition rubber ballgame.

The sport’s contemporary structure took shape through cultural exchanges. Between 2001 and 2014, meetings dubbed the Linguistic and Cultural Encounters of the Maya People brought together Maya descendants from Mexico, Belize and Guatemala, and the game began to spread.

Belize’s Championship Dynasty

Orange Walk, a lush, sugarcane-growing town about 45 miles (72 km) from the southern border of Mexico’s Quintana Roo state, is the modern headquarters of pok-ta-pok in Belize. In 2023, the Belize Tourism Board constructed the first contemporary pok-ta-pok court in the country—the Ts’unu’un Pok-ta-Pok Ball Court at Jardín Pachamama, measuring 100 feet by 50 feet (30.5 by 15.2 meters), at a cost of $75,000 ($220,000 for the tournament).

Ek’ Balam placed third in the first World Cup held in Yucatán, Mexico in 2015, but went on to win the next three World Cups consecutively in Guatemala City (2017), San Salvador (2019), and Mérida, Mexico (2021). The team’s dominance wasn’t accidental—it represented years of dedicated training and cultural commitment.

The sport has also expanded beyond men’s competition. The 2023 World Cup featured the first-ever women’s championship, with Guatemala’s I’xk’at taking the inaugural title.

A Global Movement Takes Shape

Today, the sport is organized by the Central American and Caribbean Ancestral Mayan Ballgame Association (ACCDAPM), with teams from Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Mexico, and the United States. In the United States, cities like Las Vegas, East Los Angeles, and the San Bernardino Valley have official teams.

In Belize, the community of athletes comprises about 40 players, including youth, women’s, and senior teams, all committed to maintaining a tradition that bridges sport, history, and cultural identity. “It is cultural inheritance. This is something that our ancestors played, from the poorest to the richest,” explains one player.

The modern revival represents something unique in sports history—a successful resurrection of an ancient game that maintains both its competitive intensity and spiritual significance. As Maya communities across the Americas rediscover their ancestral traditions, pok-ta-pok serves as a living bridge between past and present, proving that some games are too important to let history claim completely.

Source: Asociación Centroamericana y del Caribe de Pelota Maya