The Pok Ta Pok Maya team Yo Creek Village, Orange Walk, Belize represented the country and came back victorious from a ‘Pre-Hispanic Soccer’ competition/ Maya ball game that was held in the ancient city of Teotihuacan in Mexico City.
The tournament of “Mesoamerican Ball Game Ulamaztli, Teotihuacán 2017”, was be held on April 14 and 15 in which 10 Mexican delegations participated, as well as Belize, as a guest country. In the final game Belize faced off with the Mexican tournament winner and ended victorious.
Ulama, also known as Ullamaliztli by the Aztecs, is played with a rubber ball weighing about two kilos (4.4lbs), with teams of four players who can only move the ball using their hips. The goal of the game is to keep control of the ball and keep it in the field.
Emma Ortega, promoter of the meeting and “guardian” of the Teotihuacan region said that it seeks to preserve this ancestral tradition and that young people know the values that this practice had in ancient cultures.
