Mark "Haz" Hazinski (born April 20, 1985, in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

) is an American

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

. He started playing table tennis at the age of 9 and by the age of 15 had become the youngest player in the history of

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Table Tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

to make the

Men's

Nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...

Team. Hazinski simultaneously represented the

Men's Team and

Junior Team for 4 consecutive years (2000-2003). As a youth Hazinski was professionally trained by

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

Head Coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Danny Seemiller Danny Seemiller is an American table tennis coach and former professional player. He was the United States Olympic head coach and is the current head coach of the South Bend Table Tennis Club. He has an unorthodox playing style called the See ...

and

Junior

Coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Mark Nordby. Hazinski spent multiple years (2004–2006) playing professional

sports league A sports league is a group of individual athletes, sports teams or clubs who form a league to compete against each other and gain points in a specific sport. At its simplest, it may be a local group of amateur athletes who form teams among them ...

s in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. In 2007 Mark decided to put his professional career on hold to attend

Texas Wesleyan University Texas Wesleyan University is a private Methodist university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was founded in 1890 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The main campus is located in the Polytechnic Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth. Its mascot is ...

on a full scholarship for academics and

Career

Here are some of Hazinski's accolades: *2004 United States

team member *United States Men's National team member *United States U18 National Team member *United States Men's U21 National champion (6x gold medalist) *2003 United States table tennis Player of the Year *United States National Men's Singles finalist (4x silver medalist) *United States Pan American Team member (2007 bronze medalist). *National

Collegiate Collegiate may refer to: * College * Webster's Dictionary, a dictionary with editions referred to as a "Collegiate" * ''Collegiate'' (1926 film), 1926 American silent film directed by Del Andrews * ''Collegiate'' (1936 film), 1936 American musi ...

table tennis Men's Singles champion *2011 Most Outstanding Athlete Award (

) *2022-2024 U.S. National Team Coach In Hazinski's early career he trained and played professionally in Europe. From 2004 to 2005 he played for Oberalster VFW Club in

Hamburg, Germany Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, and in 2005-06 he played for Ängby Sportklubb in

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. After his season ended in Sweden, Hazinski decided to further pursue an education and attended Texas Wesleyan University. While attending university, he held the # 1 Collegiate Table Tennis position for over 200 consecutive weeks, making him one of the most dominant collegiate players of all time.

Personal life

Hazinski married Shu "Sara" Fu in December 2008. She is from

Chengdu, China Chengdu; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; previously romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a population of 20,937,757 at the 2020 census, it is the fourth most popu ...

, but moved to the United States in 2005 to play and coach table tennis in California. Mark graduated from

in May 2012 with a B.S. degree in Sports Medicine.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hazinski, Mark 1985 births Living people American male table tennis players Olympic table tennis players for the United States Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Mishawaka, Indiana Sportspeople from South Bend, Indiana Table tennis players at the 2007 Pan American Games Table tennis players at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in table tennis Texas Wesleyan Rams Texas Wesleyan University alumni 21st-century American sportsmen