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| Morizane Boyes - President of MSSA. |
Morizane
Boyes first entered competitive gaming in 2013, and since then has
not only been competitive, but has excelled in everything that she
has done.
In 2013, Morizane earned her Mpumulanga
Provincial Colours, and
at the S A National Championships too earned herself National
Federation Colours.
That not being enough, at
MSSA’s Annual General Meeting in December 2013, Morizane was
elected in for the role of Womens’ Desk. Morizane immediately made
her task to introduce more females to gaming.
Such were her efforts that Morizane won the Volunteer of the Year at SPAR's GSport Awards.
In
the next year (2014), Morizane earned a re-award of her Provincial
Colours at the Gauteng Provincial Championships, and qualified for
National Team trials for both StarCraft II and Tekken Tag Tournament
being the only female in the history of MSSA to qualify for two
different titles.
But
StarCraft II and Tekken are not the only games played by Morizane. As
Morizane says, “When
I’m not “adulting” I am an avid gamer, I play almost
everything”. This
is indeed true, and apart from games like StarCraft II and Tekken,
Morizane too plays
CounterStrike
and Rust.
Morizane
was thus selected to represent South Africa as a member of the Protea
eSports Team for IeSF’s 6thWorld Championships – Baku where Morizane represented the country
above and beyond the call of duty.
Morizane
too became the first female in
the world to
referee an international test match, and in 2015 refereed test
matches in which South Africa played against Austria, Zimbabwe, Egypt
and Tunisia.
With
the birth of her son in 2016, Morizane stepped back from active
competitive gaming, but still, through Sekhmetic
strength, carried on with her duties.
In
2016, Morizane refereed the test match between South Africa and Ghana
as well as organised the Mpumulanga Schools Championships, the
Mpumulanga Championships, and the 30th S A National Championships.
Even if Morizane was not directly involved in organising an event,
Morizane was seen to be involved ‘backstage’.
Even
while
Morizane was competing herself, Morizane never shirked on her
Management Board duties. During her period of office,female participation at MSSA events increased by a stunning 663%.
On the results
shown under her tenure, Morizane was heard to remark, “I
really am excited to see a larger group of girls joining the gaming
scene. I believe that there is still a long way to go and I have some
amazing women on the MSSA board who are going to help me make a
difference for our girl gamers. We are hoping that we will be able to
show the country how many talented ladies we have out there.
Unfortunately some girls do still see this as a male dominated sport
and we are hoping to change that mind set by starting female only
tournaments where these ladies can build the confidence and the skill
level to be able to take our guys.
Thus
at MSSA’s 2016 Annual General Meeting, the Council Meeting with one
voice elected Morizane as
President as
every member believes that Morizane is able to construct a
sustainable
gaming community.
Thus,
even though MSSA is governed by committee, Morizane has firm and
positive visions for gaming in South Africa.
Even
though MSSA
is tied in to its relationships with the International
Wargames Federation, International e-Sports federation, and World
draughts Federation, Morizanes vision
for the MSSA is to have South African gaming
to
get stronger and move to larger stages all over the world!
Morizane
stated, “I
honestly believe we have the potential to place our stamp in larger
tournaments and be taken seriously.
I want to see bigger teams getting involved and I believe that it’s
something we can achieve. I want to see e-Sports grow positively and
I’m willing to work with the gaming community to achieve that”.
MSSA
has always chosen the best possible Registered Players to represent
South Africa, and many will remember the top South Africans like
Robert Botha, Nathan Anderson, Anthony Hodgson, and Mohamed Wasim Lorgat (to name but a few)who have
represented South Africa as members of the Protea Team.
However,
there are some clubs that are still not affiliated, and it is
Morizane’s desire to see all organised clubs to be members of
MSSA.
As
Morizane stated on this issue,
“As
long as I’ve been a part of the MSSA, MSSA
has
never turned down any club that wanted to compete! I have heard from
gamers in larger clubs that they fear that if they join the MSSA that
they will not be able to take part in any other leagues. This is not
the case we want gamers to improve their skills and playing as often
as possible is the only way that can be achieved. I would love to be
given the opportunity to converse with the gamers who have concerns,
so that we can start creating a better gaming community”.
With
a very energetic group of people who are on the MSSA Management
Board,
Morizane is looking
forward to making all gaming bigger
and better through creating a
space where all gamers feel comfortable.
We
all wish Morizane all the best with her three year term of office
that runs until December 2019.
