If you’re thinking of trying stickball, all you need is a small ball, two netted sticks, and maybe some Band-Aids. Stickball is often called the grandfather of field sports. And it’s even more rough-and-tumble than football. 

 It might look like lacrosse or hockey, but stickball has a completely different set of rules. No pads, no timeouts, no mercy. 

Indigenous peoples have been playing stickball for hundreds of years. Every summer since 1975, teams compete in Mississippi to kick off the season.

Stickball is known as ishtaboli (ish-ta-bo-LEE) in the Choctaw language. Thirty players take the field. Each carries two netted sticks called kapucha (ku-PUH-chuh). The kapucha look a bit like lacrosse sticks, but the nets are much slimmer. The woven leather ball is small, no bigger than a mandarin orange. It’s called a towa (TOE-wah). 

Many players don’t even wear shoes. People often limp off the field with broken bones and gashes. Players scoop up the ball at their own risk. 

But it’s not a free-for-all exactly. Players can’t hit each other with their sticks. At least, not on purpose. Early or late tackles are not allowed. (Those are tackles before or after a player has the ball.) Anything above the shoulders is off-limits. Still, it’s pretty normal for players to get whacked in the face.

This year, teams such as Koni Hata and Pearl River battled it out. Several players were treated by medics for a variety of injuries. One got a broken nose.

 At Choctaw Central High School, the field is never empty. The Choctaw think of stickball as an important tradition. So players don’t take it personally when they get body slammed on the field. They simply get up, nod to each other, and race after the ball.

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. — 1 Corinthians 9:25