ulli = "rubber" Re: Olmecs

[Matthew Montchalin]

Susana Moraleda wrote:
|>It is said that the Olmecs were the inhabitants of Olman,  (place of
|>rubber - "ulli").  Would anyone know what was the role of rubber in
|>their lives?

Bernard Ortiz de Montellano wrote:
|The ball game was a very important part of Mesoamerican  world view, and
|began very early. The oldest Olmec ball court found is  dated 1400 B.C.
|Rubber balls have been found in the Olmec swampy site of El Manati.
|
|Dorothy Hosler has recently published a paper showing thst the techniques
|natives use to make rubber is the same as that reported in early colonial

Does "ulli" mean rubber, or the rubber ball that one plays with?

I can't help but notice that the verb olOloA means 'roll into a ball'
with uppercase denoting long vowels.  Is there a connection between
these words?