Ulama is one of the most ancient sports still played anywhere on earth. A direct living descendant of the Mesoamerican ballgame practised by the Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, and Aztec civilisations, it connects modern players to a sporting tradition spanning over 3,500 years of human history.

Ancient Roots

The Mesoamerican ballgame was played across an area stretching from modern-day Mexico into Central America. Archaeological evidence of ball courts and rubber balls — including some of the oldest rubber artefacts ever discovered — dates the game's practice to at least 1,400 BCE. The game held profound religious, political, and social significance: courts were ceremonial spaces, games were cosmic events, and outcomes carried consequences that extended far beyond sport.

Contemporary Ulama

Today, ulama survives primarily in the state of Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico, where it is played as ulama de cadera (hip ulama) — a form in which players strike a solid rubber ball using their hips, wearing protective leather padding around their waist. The balls used in modern ulama can weigh up to 4 kilograms, demanding extraordinary skill, fitness, and timing from players.

A second variant, ulama de antebrazo (forearm ulama), is played in a smaller number of communities and uses the forearm rather than the hip to strike the ball.

ICTSG and Cultural Preservation

The International Council of Traditional Sports and Games recognises ulama as a critical intangible cultural heritage under existential threat. The game's player base has shrunk dramatically over the 20th century, driven by urbanisation, economic pressures on traditional communities, and the dominance of modern commercial sports in Mexican culture.

ICTSG supports documentation projects that record ulama gameplay, coaching methods, equipment-making traditions, and the oral histories of current practitioners. These records serve as a foundation for revival programmes targeting young people in communities where ulama was historically played.

A Global Symbol

At international traditional sports festivals, ulama demonstrations consistently captivate audiences unfamiliar with the game's ancient roots. ICTSG promotes ulama as a living museum exhibit in human form — a sport whose players carry within their movements millennia of civilisational knowledge and cultural memory.

"When you watch ulama," an ICTSG cultural heritage advisor has noted, "you are watching the ancient world move in a modern body. That is the miracle of traditional sports: they survive in the people."