Sacred Cenote Becomes a Water Polo Court at Yokdzonot

The cenote in Yokdzonot, a small Maya community about an hour and a half east of Mérida, briefly became a swimming pool-sized water polo court over the weekend.

Young athletes who have represented Yucatán in national competitions ran a practice session and an exhibition match in the open-air cenote on Saturday and Sunday, adapting a sport usually played in rectangular pools to the round, stone-walled setting. Organizers called it a first for the sport.

The event grew out of an agreement between the nonprofit Waterpolo Maya Yucatán and the Zaaz Koolen Haa cooperative, the community-run cenotes group that has managed and maintained the cenote for two decades. The cooperative’s name translates roughly to “crystalline waters” in Maya.

The weekend opened with a welcome delivered in the Maya language, then translated into Spanish, before athletes and community members gathered at the water’s edge.

Fifteen athletes took part: Mateo, Óscar, Jaden, Roberto, Roque, Fernanda, Ximena, Alexander, Marcos, Liam, Eider, César, Carlos, Gael and Áurea. Full names and ages were not provided in available reporting.

Beyond the training sessions, the athletes ran a camp and played an exhibition match aimed specifically at children from Yokdzonot, many of whom watched from the cenote’s edge as the swimming spot briefly turned into a floating court. Tourists visiting the site at the time also stopped to watch, drawn by the contrast between the emerald-green water, the stone walls and the passing and shooting of a water polo match.

For the athletes, the weekend marked a step toward the Conade 2027 National Games, Mexico’s top amateur sports competition. Their training will follow guidelines set by World Aquatics, the international governing body for aquatic sports.

Organizers framed the event as a way to connect competitive sports with Maya communities and to present cenotes as more than tourist attractions, pointing to their cultural and community value as well.

Yokdzonot’s cenote has built its reputation on that kind of community management. A group of local women organized the Zaaz Koolen Haa cooperative in 2005 to turn what had been an underused, littered sinkhole into an ecotourism draw, a model that has since drawn attention as an example of women-led community tourism cooperatives in the region. The site now includes camping, a restaurant and a zip line, in addition to the cenote itself.

The cenote sits in the municipality of Yaxcabá, roughly 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) east of Mérida and a short drive from Chichén Itzá, making it an easy stop for visitors already touring the ruins.

Water polo has grown a modest following in Yucatán in recent years, with the state fielding youth teams in national tournaments, though it remains a niche sport compared with baseball, basketball or soccer in the region.

With reporting from La Jornada Maya, with additional context from 24 Horas Yucatán and Por Esto!