ZooMaa’s last dance: Why a Call of Duty great was stopped in his prime

❘ Updated: 2021-02-21T18:00:05

Thomas ‘ZooMaa’ Paparatto is known throughout Call of Duty’s esports scene as one of the greats, despite a revolving door of new talent constantly keeping fans on their toes. Here’s why this powerhouse’s esports career was cut short.

Starting out as a promising young soccer player, two ACL injuries saw ZooMaa making a switch from sports to esports. Turning to Call of Duty to fill his time, he started to dominate tournaments against top pros.

He competed under FaZe Clan for most of his career, before joining the New York Subliners in the Call of Duty League. But like soccer, ZooMaa was forced to stop too soon due to yet another recurring injury. Earning nearly $400,000 in tournament winnings, alongside 6 major tournaments wins — the retired competitive veteran more than made his mark before having to stand down.

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Even though he’s been forced to retire at the tender age of 25, he’s still managed to achieve plenty of incredible feats for the history books over the years. At his first event, ZooMaa came top 12 at UMG Philadelphia 2014. His raw talent and skill was noticed by James ‘Crowder’ Crowder — then known as ‘Replays’ — giving the player his big break with Denial Esports.

Eventually switching to FaZe, he fully dominated the CoD scene, also bagging himself an event MVP award after a 10-map thriller against OpTic’s dynasty squad at the Stage 1 finals in World War II.

For a full rundown on this superstar’s shining performance in the sphere, check out the full video above.

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