Pok Ta' Pok - The Maya Ball Game

If you’ve visited Chichen Itzá, Cobá or other Maya ruins, you probably saw the Pok Ta’ Pok courts where this traditional pre-hispanic ball game was played. Players in teams of two or four aimed to keep a rubber ball, weighing up to 4kg, off the ground and through a vertical hoop in the center of the court by striking it with only their hips - and according to some reports other body parts including knees, elbows, and heads...ouch!

Sometimes referred to as Mayan basketball, it's not really like basketball at all. As the players jostled to keep the ball from touching the ground, some historians say that the team captains were allowed to use a stick to hit the ball through the stone ring as they ran along the sideline and thee walls edge, above the court. Both a ritual and a sport the teams literally put their lives on the line to win.

There are conflicting accounts of whether it was the winners or losers who lost their lives, but either way, the game was not for the faint-hearted! It makes sense that at the end of the game, the losing team’s captain would behead the winning team’s captain, after all, sacrifice means "to make sacred" and it was an honor to be sacrificed in ancient Maya culture. So it would only be fitting that the best player would be sacrificed.

See the Maya ruins at Coba and their Pok Ta' Pok court for yourself one our Coba excursion when you study abroad with Na'atik. 

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The best way to experience the Mexican lifestyle is in person, with a Na’atik Immersion experience. Not only do you live with a local Mexican-Maya family, sharing home-cooked meals and free time, but also receive expert instruction in your chosen language at our school. Best of all, every immersion experience helps fund our subsidized and free local education program, helping local students to access opportunities and make their own futures.