This curriculum unit was developed through the Yale National Initiative seminar Art and Identity in Mexico from Olmec Times to the Present. This unit will be divided into four parts. The first part of this unit will provide background information on the formation of team sports beginning with the Olmecs of Mesoamerica. The unit will also include background information on the early Olympics in Greece and the creation of the modern Olympics, beginning with its creation in the nineteenth century. The third part of the unit will look at the Mexico Olympics of 1968 against the backdrop of the Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico City. Included throughout the unit will be examples of conflict resolution, with the fourth part of the unit defining and giving further examples of the use of conflict resolution through sports. This curriculum unit will be taught in a ninth grade Civics class but may be applicable to any American Democracy or United States history curriculum.
Rationale
When studying history and government it is important to look at the contribution of people native to this hemisphere. Usually we look to the contributions of people from Europe, especially Western Europe. No doubt this is due to the large numbers of people who immigrated to the United States from Western European countries. Along with their religion they also brought a written language and books. They also brought a system of laws that were written into these books. Many of their laws were based upon the teachings of the Bible and the popular belief was that these laws were handed down by God.
As these people from Europe with their laws steeped in Biblical tradition explored the world and came in contact with people different from themselves, some with no written language or an unfamiliar language and with religions not known or understood, it was common to consider these new groups of people as uncivilized. With no ability or knowledge of how to read the records of these newly subjugated people it was easy to call them uncivilized. Once these groups of people were defined as uncivilized the commission of the interloper was to develop strategies to bring these people to civilization. This also meant that the history, language, religion and culture of the newly subjugated would be destroyed or at the very least discouraged from being used. As a result, the contributions of many of these peoples have been lost to history and only now are their histories being made known.
To begin a study of sports it is necessary to define what sport is. Sport is defined as a physical activity or skill carried out with a recreational purpose; for recreation, self-enjoyment, to attain excellence, for the development of a skill or for some combination of these: sport has physical activity, side by side competition, and a scoring system: the difference of purpose is what characterizes sport combined with the notion of individual or team skill or prowess.
Sport is also defined as a basic human skill developed for the sake of the people and their society as a useful way for people to increase mastery over nature and the environment. Therefore, sport is thought to be as old as the existence of man. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports)
Since the greatest influence on western culture has come from Western Europe when we study sport we always look to study the games of Ancient Greece and the first Olympics. In the Olympics the participants were free men, athletes, and citizens of Greece. Participation in the Olympics was not available to everyone, although records do indicate that citizens from all the Greek colonies participated.
Amongst Ancient Americans it is believed the team sports developed with the Olmecs. These games were played by teams using a rubber ball. Although no ball courts have remained from Olmec time rubber balls have been discovered. Since rubber was not known in Europe the Spaniards were fascinated with the bouncing ball. When the Spaniards first saw this bouncing ball they thought it was the work of the devil. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber)
Archeologists have discovered ball courts in Mesoamerica and Guatemala dating back to 1500 BC. These ball courts were decorated with art; other art forms document ball games, including ceramic figurines, vessels, stone sculptures, carved monuments, and wall murals. Courts averaged 36.5 m by 9 m (120 ft. by 30 ft. Most were shaped like a capitol letter "I" with parallel masonry walls encasing a long narrow playing alley that connected two end zones. The floor of the ball court was made of cut stone whitewashed and painted with vivid colors. Jaguars, serpents and raptors decorated the interiors of the ball courts. Some sites had life-sized stone friezes depicting past game rituals of human sacrifice. The size of the ball varied from the size of a softball to that of a beach ball.
Comments: