Adapted Mixtec Ball: Serving From the Botadero and Marking Chazas

Mixtec ball (pelota mixteca) is a sport from the Mixteca region of Oaxaca, Puebla and Guerrero in Mexico, also played today by migrant communities in Mexico City and the U.S.; it blends pre-Hispanic roots with European ball games. Two teams hit the ball back and forth with the hand or a glove on a long field, the pasajuego, and the serve is made by bouncing the ball off a stone called the botadero.

How to play

1. Explain the origin and the styles (rubber ball with a heavy glove, cloth-covered ball, and sponge ball) and that we'll play a school sponge-ball version by hand. Field 30 x 8 meters with a center line (5 min).
2. Partner hitting: return the foam ball with the palm, on the fly or after one bounce, from 8-10 meters (6 min).
3. Serve: the server bounces the ball inside the hoop (the botadero) and hits it into the other half. Everyone tries five serves (5 min).
4. 5v5 game on two fields: a point if the ball crosses the opponents' end line or they fail to return it before the second bounce (10 min).
5. Game with chazas: if a team stops the ball in its half, mark the spot with a cone (a chaza); after two chazas the teams switch sides and contest each one: the team that drives the ball past that mark wins it (9 min).

Rules

• Hit with the palm or fist, never with the foot.
• Each team stays in rows along the field to avoid collisions.
• Only the server stands by the botadero; everyone else stays 5 meters back.
• Anyone hit hard in the face can stop play; that's why we use foam.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: play in the front row and hit with a paddle.
• Hearing impairment: chaza marks and side switches are shown with a flag or agreed gesture.
• Fear of the ball: start in the back row, where the ball arrives slower, with a softer ball.

Learning goals

• Strike the ball with the hand on different trajectories.
• Understand a traditional scoring system different from the usual ones.
• Value an Indigenous Mexican sport still alive in migrant communities.

Equipment for a class of 25

• foam balls: 4
• cones: 20
• hoops: 2

Teacher tip

Point out that this is Mixtec ball, not ulama, the hip-ball game from Sinaloa: students mix them up. The chaza system is tricky, so play direct points first and add it only once the hitting works.

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