A baseball player may tap his helmet three times before stepping up to the plate, and an Argentina supporter may burn incense in front of a portrait of Diego Maradona as the Albiceleste kick off. Now, a team of archaeologists have found evidence that the ancient Maya blessed their ball courts with ritual offerings, an indicator of how much sport meant to the Maya communities.

This Mesoamerican athletic contest involved a solid rubber ball, and it was played on narrow brick courts enclosed by angled stone walls. The rules aren’t exactly known, and the sport varied from region to region (including the size and configuration of the courts), but the general goal was to keep the ball in constant motion, similar to modern sports like volleyball and racquetball. But instead of using hands, feet, or racquets, the players used their torsos and hips to keep the heavy rubber ball in play, which they did by bouncing it off the slanted sidewalls.