Pelota mixteca Pelota mixteca Pelota mixteca ("Mixtec-style ball") is a team sport similar to a net-less tennis game. The players wear sturdy, elaborately decorated gloves affixed to a heavy flat striking surface, using them to strike a small solid ball. The game has roots extending back hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of years. Today, the game is played in the Mexican state of Oaxaca and Guerrero and in emigrant communities including those in the Mexico City, Los Angeles and Fresno areas. The members of each five-player team take their positions on one-half of a long narrow court—roughly 100 m long by 11 m
Pelota Mano Court, Trebonne in 1528 and commented on how all the males played this game. Indoor ('courte paume') and outdoor ('longue paume') versions endured during the 18th century, but following the French Revolution the games were nearly abandoned for being associated with royalty and nobility. Its popularity, however, remained in small circles. From the early outdoor version evolved modern tennis and in the Basque country it became the present manifestation of Basque handball. The Basque pelota mano derives from Roman versions of the game and spread throughout western Europe and France. What became the traditional game "pelota basque" played in church porticos or