Sneaking Out At 15 Years Old, zAAz Is The Biggest Female CS:GO Pro In The World At 26

There are thousands of esports and virtual athletes in the world, and, yet, everyone has their own story to tell. The struggles with family play a role in this because many parents are only starting to understand the potential of their daughters’ and sons’ career paths once they start to bring in the big checks from winning. Zainab “zAAz” Turkie is one of these players. This 26-year-old player is the three-time Intel Extreme Masters Champion in Counter-Strike, having played with teams like RES Gaming, Les Seules, MYM, and Fnatic. She is also the winner of the Electronic Sports World Cup Masters of Women and now testimonial for a fairly major hardware brand with SanDisk.

With all of these accomplishments behind her, Twin Galaxies reached out to zAAz to talk about her path through the pros in the Counter-Strike scene. She was kind enough to speak with us, taking us back to where it all began.

“When I was 15 years old,” she began, “everything started for me. I just focused on the game. I really wanted to become the best. I saw a lot of female teams before that I've looked up to and I was like ‘Sh-t! I want to be like them! I really want to play like them!’.”

When you meet zAAz, you don't just see a female player that plays Counter-Strike, but a true virtual athlete. Turkie has the spirit and attitude necessary to get to the top. Like a lot of professionals that now earn good money with their career, she had a tough time convincing her parents to let her go at first. She wanted to find her own path. Sometimes, that’s not as easy as it sounds.

zAAz is currently hosting an eSports casting tv show called gamerZ, where she is searching for new pros. 

“I couldn't tell my dad. I had to sneak out. To Norway, to Paris, to Katowice.”

Turkie gets emotional when she talks about that time. “I had a very strict father, and, obviously, he just wanted the best for me. He wanted me to focus more on school than anything else. In his eyes, I was just a 15-year-old kid that couldn't take care of herself. He didn’t understand my feeling for the game, my passion. And of course, don’t do this, guys!” She added, happily, “but, if you are really good at something, you need to follow your dreams.”

She was living in Malmö, Sweden and did what most teenagers do; She told her parents that she stayed with a friend for the weekend. But, instead of hanging out with a potential boyfriend, she was going to Norway to her first big LAN tournament, found a clan to join, and started practicing hardcore.

“If you want to become good in something,” she added her own tip for those wanting to know the path to success, “you’ve got to put in the work. I was working at a travel agency from 9 to 6, had 15 minutes to go home, and started practicing 8 hours (a day). No excuses! Just do it!”

While her friends were partying on weekends, she just had that one goal in front of her eyes and was willing to do what was necessary to get to the top. Just this past year, in March 2017, she became Intel Extreme Masters Champion in one of the biggest and most prestigious Counter-Strike tournaments in Europe, IEM Katowice.

“I am (currently) playing for Dynasty Gaming, and I can proudly say that we are now the best female CS clan in the world. We haven't lost a single tournament within two years." She has since moved on to RES Gaming since the interview in the past couple weeks. "But, yeah, I've practiced every single night, 7 nights a week. You know, so often girls and guys approach me and ask how to become a pro player. And when you tell them, they are like ‘Wow! That sounds like way more work than I've ever thought of.’ We still practice at least 6 to 8 hours a day, plus strategy meetings, media interviews, and all the good stuff. And when we don't practice, we constantly play for ourselves, at home, in hotel rooms. It doesn't matter.”

"Believe in your dreams and help other people fulfill theirs."

In her home country of Sweden, Zainab is a star as well. But, even before she made it big, she did her best to be a good person.

“It took a long time to go full pro, so I was working at a travel agency while playing Counter-Strike," she explained. "Once, a man in his fifties came in, and I've remembered him because he was sitting in front of a supermarket every day begging for a bit of money. He had saved up enough to go back to his family in Bucharest. That was his dream. But, he had to reschedule his flight, and it was a non-rebookable one. He was so sad, looking at me and I've just typed in my own credit card number for a new flight. I wasn't making much at that time, but I had a bit of saving and when he saw the new ticket he started crying and I was crying as well. When you can help someone fulfill his little dream, do it.”

She still remembers all the people that helped get her going in her dream and career. Early on, she had to constantly borrow a gaming laptop from a close friend because her dad would lock up her gaming gear and limit play time out of fear she couldn't be good enough at school. Ten years later, she is an esports star with a full salary and marketing deals with hardware companies like SanDisk.

For more interviews with pro gamers, check out our recent interview with Sonic Fox.