Gaming
esports
CSGO | Meet the secret weapon in South Africa's all female team for China
We talk to Sharon “ShazZ” Waison, a name familiar in South African and international esports circles.
ShazZ was one of the members of Team Karma, the winner of the 2015 Copenhagen Games. With that win she was able to claim the title as one of the only South African esports players to win an international competition. This was also her first CSGO LAN event. Winning a major competition straight out of the gates was testament to ShazZ’s incredible natural talent and ability to play well under pressure.
Since then she has graced the line ups of some of South Africa’s most prolific CSGO teams and won a few titles including the DGL Championship in 2016 with eNergy and the Matrix Maverick Challenge in 2017 with Pulse Gaming - who she currently plays for. It came as a bit of a surprise to see her in the line up for new organisation LeetPro’s female CSGO team when they entered the WESG African qualifiers recently.
Leetpro went on to win the qualifiers convincingly and guaranteed themselves a spot in China in January 2018, to compete against some of the best all female teams in the world. The win, while a team effort, was definitely helped along by ShazZ. However many were surprised to see her addition to the line up.
I decided to chat to her to find out why she was a 'substitute' in the team and what this means for her future.
Many of the local scene were surprised to see you in the LeetPro female team line up for the WESG qualifiers. How did this happen?
Since my time in Team Karma I’ve had a few offers from all female teams. I’ve always turned them down as I was playing for another team. However, LeetPro’s coach, Slowye, approached me about potentially subbing for the WESG qualifiers. I was surprised but also excited to help LeetPro out. There is a huge amount of talent in the team and they needed a fifth. It isn’t a permanent move but I believe I have the time and skill to help them achieve their goals, for now.
You’ve been pretty clear that you’re playing as a substitute for LeetPro’s female team. You’re also still a core member of Pulse Gaming’s CSGO team. How does this work without conflict?
Pulse is taking a break till the New Year and most of our team will be going on holiday. When the LeetPro offer came along I had no commitments with Pulse for the time frame set out so it wouldn’t conflict at all. Pulse has been extremely supportive because a trip to play at WESG in China is a huge opportunity and will give me great experience that I’ll obviously be able to feedback to my core team.
While ShazZ’s incredible talent speaks for itself there has been a personal issue that has overshadowed much of her competitive career in the last year. In short, ShazZ has Lupus which has attacked her kidneys. Currently, ShazZ is on the donor waiting list as she requires a Kidney transplant. In the last few months she has had to start dialysis. While ShazZ has always been upbeat and not focused on the effects of her illness, it has come with its own struggles.
I was curious as to how she’d handle an overseas trip while waiting for a transplant.
I’m lucky in that I’m healthy enough to go overseas. My doctor has given me the go ahead. It isn’t going to come without a bit of management from my side. I’ll need to do dialysis for five hours on the day I leave for China and then do five hours of dialysis on the day I return to South Africa. It won’t conflict with the event or our time at WESG.
You’ve played many of the female teams overseas and beaten them in the past. There’s a chance you’ll face off against a lot of them at WESG. What do you rate LeetPro’s chances are?
We have a good chance. There is a lot of firepower in this team. It is going to come down to strategic play and how well our team handles the pressure. It is extremely overwhelming playing internationally but I really do believe in my teammates. We also have incredible support from our family, friends and the LeetPro organisation. We’ve got this!
It will be interesting to see how this relatively new team performs against top international competition. While this is ShazZ’s latest adventure it is just one of many she plans to embark on next year. She’ll still be competing with Pulse Gaming and will begin to actively stream on her return from China, with rumours swirling about a rather large ambassador deal that is allegedly going to be announced early 2018. But ShazZ is mum on any rumours and humbly just laughs saying right now she needs to train for China.
