An Introduction To Pelota Mixteca

Aside from the balls, heavily decorated gloves are a large part of the game, too, despite being a later development. Legend has it that the gloves first came about in the Oaxacan town of Ejutla de Crespo – to protect himself from the heavy and fast moving balls, one player tightly bandaged his hand in leather before the start of the game. It’s said that this led to the creation of the elaborate and artisanal gloves that are now used in most regions that practice pelota mixteca. Often hand decorated and studded with nails, the gloves are actually pretty hefty, with some weighing in at around 6 kilograms.

However, whilst the equipment varies, both the size and shape of the long, thin pitch and the complex scoring rules remain the same in all versions. Each team has five players who position themselves on their respective half of the peculiarly long and narrow court, which has a hard surface not unlike that of a tennis court. The idea is to hit the ball back and forth, with the team that hits the ball out of play or fails to return the shot forfeiting points to the opposing team.

While the roots and origins of pelota mixteca are rather murky, it’s thought by many to be a descendent of the Mesoamerican ballgame (which you can read more about here), although other sources believe that it shares far more similarities with European sports. Due to its close similarity with modern day tennis (minus the net and substituting rackets for gloves, of course) it’s claimed that it was probably adapted from Franco-Flemish sports that first became Basque or Valencian Pelota and were afterwards brought to Mexico with the Spanish conquistadors.

Nowadays, this intriguing game is played principally in the southern states of Oaxaca (where you’re likely to see pelota mixteca de hule) and Guerrero, where a high volume of indigenous people still reside, although there are pockets of pelota mixteca activity in Mexico City and even in parts of the U.S., too. If you fancy catching a game of pelota mixteca next time you’re in Mexico, just ten minutes from the popular tourist town of Puerto Escondido, in Bajos de Chila, you can see teams competing against one another, particularly during the month of February.