Making strides in female e-sports
She placed third at the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) in 2015 and she was also part of the winning team at the Copenhagen Games in Denmark that same year.
Sandton resident Sharon Waison, known to the gaming world as ShazZ, continues to make strides in the local gaming scene.
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) player began her journey in the e-sporting scene while looking for something to fuel her competitive edge after being diagnosed with systemic lupus at the young age of 10. “Before I was diagnosed, I was very sporty and competitive. I played almost every sport that was available in school,” she said. Due to the strain on her body and mental ability, Waison turned to online sports.
“When I found out that it was possible to play online and challenge other people, I became hooked,” she said.
The 28-year-old added that at that stage in her life, she never really took gender into consideration, “I just wanted to be the best”. With that being said, being a female gamer in a stereotypical male industry had its fair number of challenges, such as bullying by her male counterparts.
“I never got a lot of opportunities out there because I am a girl and ‘I can’t play games’. But all the bullying just motivated me to be better and show people that I will prove them wrong.”
And so Waison did, grabbing a number of podium finishes in various tournaments on a local and international scale. She placed third at the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) in 2015 and she was also part of the winning team at the Copenhagen Games in Denmark that same year.
She also graced a few local CSGO line-ups, winning a number of titles at various tournaments such as the Digital Gaming League (DGL) Championship in 2016 and the Matrix Maverick Challenge in 2017. “It was a dream come true because I have always been competing with the males in the gaming scene.”
In the last three years, Waison made the transition to play in the local female gaming scene because of her health. “I found that I couldn’t compete with the best anymore because you couldn’t make too many mistakes, my eyesight started to deteriorate from the medication I was taking and the mental stress of it all just became too much.”
The female gaming scene did not prove to be as stressful for her because the girls were still learning and according to Waison, many of them unfortunately still have to prove themselves within the industry. At the moment Waison currently plays for an all-female team called ATKfe at the ATK Arena.
“I would like to take this team and make waves in the local industry, hopefully go overseas too. We are really just trying to break the stereotype around the fact that gaming is a male-dominated sport.” This will be Waison’s last project before she retires, concluding her 15-year-long career.
“I would like to continue encouraging female gamers to keep pushing and prove themselves, don’t let the bullies win. If you want to do it, do it. Unfortunately, it [the bullying] is not going to go away so turn that negative energy towards you into something positive and keep fighting,” she concluded.
Related article:
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/244166/boys-dominate-in-fortnite-schools-cup/
