the game

Ballin'
by Fernando Hernandez and Luis Felix-Rivera

The Olmecs is an ancient civilization of the Americas that created the first writing system and large stone carvings of African heads. They also invented the ballgame that soccer and basketball come from.
After colonization the British took the Mesoamerican ballgame that the Aztecs, Mayas, and Olmecs played with their hips. They used their hips to hit the ball. If they hit the ball wrong they could break their hips. They played with a rubber ball weighing 5-8 lbs.

The ballgame was originally called “ulama”. Ulama comes from the Nahuatl word ullamaliztli, meaning ballgame. The ballgame was also influenced by an Aztec game ritual. The goal was to make the ball pass through one of two stone rings that were placed on each side of the court.

Two individuals or two teams often played the ballgame. The game was also influenced by a ballgame played by the Gods of the Sky and the Lords of the Underworld. On earth a loser's skull might be used as the core around which a new rubber ball would be made.