Even the Best Can Stumble: Zaid Williams' Esports Journey

In the world of esports, which is like playing video games professionally, lots of players work hard every day hoping to get noticed. Many of them are good, but only a few ever make it to the big leagues where they play against the best. Being good isn’t always enough; often, having a smart plan is what makes the difference. If you’re a player nobody knows yet, it doesn’t mean you’re out of luck. It just means you need to think smarter about how you get better and how you get people to see you, especially compared to players who are already famous.

To do well in esports, you need three things: playing well, playing steadily, and being seen. If you can get good at all three, you can go from being just another player online to someone serious teams want to have. This means that even the best esports players can’t just relax and think they’ve made it. There’s always someone new trying to beat them, like David against Goliath, and sometimes there are even a few Davids!

That’s what happened on February 7, 2026, when Zaid Williams stepped up to play! Zaid first played against a team from Burkino Faso and won. Then, he beat the team from DR Congo. But after that, he lost to Lesotho, which meant he had to leave the championship, even though he was among the top eight players.

Even though he was surely disappointed, Zaid said, “I’ll learn from this, and I’ll do even better next time!” That’s a strong statement, and it’s exactly the kind of spirit the MSSA expects from its best Protea Esports athletes.

Players who aren’t well-known can still make it big in esports, but it takes more than just being good at the game. You need to show that you have real skill, have played in important competitions, be known as someone reliable, and make sure people can easily find out about you.

To do this, you should play online games regularly and get better, join tournaments, make friends and connections in the gaming world, and create a clear idea of who you are as a player. Most importantly, stick with it long enough so that what you achieve speaks louder than your name. In esports, being unknown is only for a little while if you play well and act professionally enough to make people remember you. And always remember, as Zvi Katabi used to say, “When you are sleeping, someone else is training…”.

Additional reading:

2026 Calendar of events
AEC24 – Champions of all of Africa – Protea Female Counter Strike 2 Esports Team wins AEC24
AEC24 – Forged in battle – a Counter Strike story…
AEC24 – Thato Maredi outperforms Bafana Bafana!
ACES – Avenging Bafana
ACES – Thato advances to the knock-out stages!
Affiliation: Private Clubs
Affiliation – Procedure to be followed by school clubs affiliating for the 2026 season.
Clubs – Newly-affiliated Backgammon clubs are ready to get things rolling…
Events – Northern Cape Online Esports Provincial Championships – 24 January 2026.
GEF – Clash Royale esports athletes may win a trip to Mumbai….
GEF – Even Titans fall!
GEF – Protea DotA 2 Team to represent South Africa in GEG25 qualifiers – Saturday, 7 February 2026
GEF – Zaid Williams to represent South Africa in Clash Royale – Saturday, 7 February 2026
National Team Trials – Who qualifies for MSSA National Team Trials?
Results – Northern Cape Online Esports Provincial Championships – 24 January 2026.
Sportsmanship Award – Sportsmanship Award – Northern Cape Online Esports Provincial Championships
Streaming – Streaming of MSSA’s Northern Cape Online Championships for the MLBB esports title.