The Aztecs played a deadly ball game where a loss could mean sacrifice to their gods but this 3500yearold ritual wasnt invented by the Aztecs at all 🏀 🔮 Called ullamaliztli in the Aztec language of Nahuatl this dangerous sport used a solid rubber ball weighing up to 9 pounds that players could only hit with their hips elbows and knees Archaeologists discovered a rubber ball dating to 1600 BC at a site called El Manatí proving the game existed over 1600 years before the Aztec empire The oldest

The Mesoamerican ball game is the oldest known team sport in the world. It was practiced by ancient Pre-Columbian cultures of Central America and played almost a millennium before the establishment of the first Greek Olympic Games . A fast-paced, often brutal game tied in with religious ritual, contestants often lost their lives and human sacrifices were regular occurrences. From ancient times until the Spanish conquest in the 16 th century, the sport was not just a game but a major part of Meso