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Smithsonian MagazineJul 31, 2025
In Belize, Maya Descendants Are Reviving an Ancient, Sacred Ballgame
A movement is underway to make pok-ta-pok, the world’s oldest team ballgame, the national sport
Terminal Classic Maya city with over a dozen courts
31 things in this story
- XunantunichSightarchaeological site dating to Maya civilization
- El CastilloSightgrandest of the site’s temples and palaces
- pok-ta-pokPlaceworld’s oldest team ballgame, nearly lost during colonization
- Yucatec MayaPlaceThere is also a significant diasporic community of Yucatec Maya speakers in San Francisco, though most Maya Americans…
- Popol VuhPlace16th-century recounting of Maya creation stories
- Penn MuseumMuseumarchaeology and anthropology museum
- International Pok-ta-Pok TournamentFestivalsixth tournament in Copán, Honduras, Sept 25-28
- TulaSightsite with 6 excavated pok-ta-pok courts
- El TajínSightsite with 20 excavated pok-ta-pok courts
- CantonaSightsite with 24 excavated pok-ta-pok courts
- TikalSightGuatemala’s best-known Maya settlement with five courts
- Great Ball CourtSight545-foot-long court at Chichén Itzá
- Chichén ItzáSightTerminal Classic Maya city with over a dozen courts
- CaracolSightmajor regional seat of power with largest ball court
- Cahal PechQuartersite with eroded ball court yielding finds
- Mopan River ValleyNeighborhoodlocation of three pok-ta-pok sites
- Journal of Sport for DevelopmentPlacepublished paper on pok-ta-pok revival
- Riviera MayaNeighborhoodincorporated pok-ta-pok into glitzy shows
- Ek BalamPlaceteam name meaning 'black jaguar'
- tasteSightmodern-day open field for playing pok-ta-pok
- Ts’unu’unSightcourt at Jardín Pachamama, Orange Walk
- Jardín PachamamaSightThe Belize Tourism Board (BTB) and the Belize Maya Ancestral Maya Sport Pok-ta-Pok (BMAMSP) celebrated the opening of…
- Orange WalkNeighborhoodmodern headquarters of pok-ta-pok in Belize
- CopánSight
- OlmecsPlace
- Guatemalan HighlandsNeighborhood
- University of Nevada, RenoPlace
- Northern YucatánNeighborhood
- ulamaPlace
- chajchaayPlace
- chaajPlace