South Bender Towers Over Field at Nationals
By Larry Hodges (from Jan/Feb 2000 USA Table Tennis Magazine)

As I crane my neck upward while talking to the towering figure of the U.S. Nationals Under 2400 Champion, while observing his coach in the background – 5-time U.S. Men’s Singles Champion Dan Seemiller, now the USA Men’s Coach, barely standing to this guy’s shoulders – I remember joking with players on my team at the North America Teams about the players in the first division – they were big, strong, powerful players, much like the guy I’m interviewing. Of course, most of them shave and are past braces.

South Bend, Indiana’s Mark Hazinski is also past braces (at least I didn’t see any), but I doubt if he needs to shave. He’s 14, he’s 6’1", and (besides Under 2400) he’s also the U.S. Nationals Boys’ Junior High School Singles Champion. And the Doubles Champion. And Under 2200 Champion. In Men’s Singles, he had a win over 2493-rated Brian Masters, and he went five games with Brian Pace (2545) in the 8ths (where he led 2-1 in games).

Did I mention his listed rating was only 2185?

Going into the tournament, he was actually rated about 2240 in more up-to-date ratings … but 2240 players generally lose around the second round of Under 2400, and spend most of their time chasing balls when playing power-looper Brian Pace. But most players don’t train nearly full-time in hopes of making the 2004 Olympics. (We’re not going to even THINK about the 2000 Olympic Trials coming up in a couple of months … are we?)

Mark started playing at a school club when he was 8 years old. One day, he heard about a tournament, and showed up. There was an offer of a free lesson with Coach Viktor Tolkachev, and Mark signed up – and joined Viktor’s South Bend training program.

Later on, Viktor went back to his home country of Latvia, and Dan Seemiller was hired as the South Bend coach three years ago, and took over the training of then 11-year-old Mark. There are five Varsity training sessions each week in the South Bend club (as well as Junior Varsity and Cadet training), where Mark practices with Dan, Randy Hewitt, Nate Troyer and others. Dan’s assistant coaches, Paul George and Barry Chan, also help by feeding Mark and the others multiball. Few players have the advantage of working regularly with an elite coach such as Coach Seemiller, and the results are starting to show up. Mark has improved to the point where he is now sponsored by Butterfly.

Mark is a two-winged looper, with an emphasis on power on the forehand, control on the backhand. He says he doesn’t really have a short-term goal – just the long-term goal of making the 2004 Olympics, when he’ll be 19. He also has the backup plan of making the Olympics in 2008 when he’s 23, but he’d prefer to use that year to become a two-time Olympian.

To help accommodate his training and tournament schedule, Mark (like Keith Alban, and previously Barney J. Reed and Dave Fernandez) takes home school, where he is helped by his mom and by numerous school-type movies. Home school is daily from 10-3. He likes math (he is currently into algebra).

What does the future see for this up-and-coming player, who just a few weeks before was just another 2200 player trying to break into the big leagues? I don’t know – but I’m sure that from his vantage point, Mark will see his way.