Ullamaliztli: The Deadly Sport of Mesoamerica

Long before stadiums, scoreboards, or professional leagues, Mesoamerican civilizations played a game where sport, ritual, and the cosmos collided. In this episode of History Shorts, we explore Ullamaliztli, the ancient Mesoamerican ball game played for more than 3,000 years by the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec worlds. Using a solid rubber ball, sometimes weighing as much as a bowling ball, players struck it with hips, thighs, and forearms, battling gravity, physics, and pain itself to keep the ball in motion.   DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://www.patreon.com/c/HistoryShortsPodcast ADVERTISE: https://www.historyshortspodcast.com/advertise  LEARN MORE: https://www.historyshortspodcast.com/ SPONSORED BY: https://www.podcastrepublic.net/get-it-now