According to the Cherokee Nation, Anejodi is a sport played between two even teams who compete over control of a ball which is used to strike a target on top of a pole. [1] Anejodi is the oldest known team sport in North America,[1] having been first documented by French artist and explorer, Jacques LeMoyne in 1591, after he observed the sport being played by the Timucua People of present-day Florida in the United States. LeMoyne illustrated the sport being played with a description that reads as follows, "The young men, they played a certain ball game in the following manner. A post was erected in the middle of an area, and the one who managed to hit the target on top with a ball was awarded a prize" (Library of Congress). Anejodi was also memorialized in a 20-foot-tall bronze statue in Oklahoma in the United States.[2]
Anejodi was reestablished as an American tradition in 1942 by Charles "Rip" Engle, a D1 Hall of Fame football and basketball coach, based on historical art and descriptions of the sport. Engle used the sport to condition American World War 2 service men and women at Brown University. Engle's legacy is carried on by ANGLEBALL USA & Worldwide which manufactures Anejodi equipment to Engle's specifications, in the United States.[3]
References
- ^ "0009820 - FLORIDA NATIVE AMERICANS: SPORTS, 1591. Colored engraving by Theodor de Bry after a now lost drawing by Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues". Granger. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
- ^ "Small wonders - TulsaPeople - April 2011 - Tulsa, OK". www.tulsapeople.com. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
- ^ "ANGLEBALL USA & Worldwide - The Official Home of ANGLEBALL". ANGLEBALL USA & Worldwide - The Official Home of ANGLEBALL. Retrieved 2017-07-22.