Mark "Haz" Hazinski is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 professional

Professional

A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...

 table tennis

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

 player. He was born on April 20, 1985 in South Bend

South Bend, Indiana

The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

 and grew up in Mishawaka, Indiana

Mishawaka, Indiana

Mishawaka is a city on the St. Joseph River and a Twin city of South Bend in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States. The population was 48,252 as of the 2010 Census...

. Hazinski started playing table tennis at the age of nine and is the youngest player to make the US Men's National Table Tennis Team at the age of 15. He competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

 in doubles with teammate Ilija Lupulesku

Ilija Lupulesku

Ilija Lupulesku is a former Yugoslav and now Serbian table tennis player who competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics, in the 1992 Summer Olympics, in the 1996 Summer Olympics, in the 2000 Summer Olympics, and in the 2004 Summer Olympics. He compeeted for USA from 2004 to 2006 including 2004 Summer...

.

Previously, Hazinski was being coached by Danny Seemiller

Danny Seemiller

Danny Seemiller is a United States table tennis player.Danny began playing serious table tennis as an early teenager. By 1972, he was the number one qualifier on the U.S. World Team. He has won five U.S. Men's Singles Championships...

 and Mark Nordby, although more currently he is playing for TWU Table Tennis team in Fort Worth, Texas and hasn't had a coach in 2 years. Hazinski spent a few years (2002–2004) playing sports league

Sports league

League is a term commonly used to describe a group of sports teams or individual athletes that compete against each other in a specific sport. At its simplest, it may be a local group of amateur athletes who form teams among themselves and compete on weekends; at its most complex, it can be an...

s in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 and is presently sponsored by Killerspin

Killerspin

Killerspin is a table tennis equipment, accessories, and clothing brand that also sponsors and hosts competitions, as well as table tennis related special events...

.

He now attends Texas Wesleyan University

Texas Wesleyan University

Texas Wesleyan University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university founded by the United Methodist Church in 1890. The main campus is located in the Polytechnic Heights Neighborhood of Fort Worth, Texas, with branch campuses in Burleson and downtown Fort Worth.-History:Texas Wesleyan...

(TWU), and holds down the top position. He has won: 2007 Collegiate National Champion - Men's Team 2007 Collegiate National Champion - Men's Doubles 2007 Collegiate National Champion - Mixed Doubles 2007 Collegiate National Champion - Men's Singles.

Personal life

Mark married Shu "Sara" Fu in December 2008. Sara is originally from Chengdu, China but moved to the United States in 2005 to play and coach table tennis in California. Sara then moved to Texas to play on Texas Wesleyan's Table Tennis team, where she met Mark. The two fell in love and eventually married. Sara is also a top ranked female table tennis player. Mark has 2 siblings, younger sister Janelle and Katie, along with his parents Pam and Matt Hazinski. Mark is scheduled to graduate from Texas Wesleyan University in May, 2012 with a B.S. degree in Sports Medicine. Mark looks forward to coaching table tennis professionally upon graduating.