St. Louis Open Part of Larger Plan for Top Seed Mark Hazinski

Wilson, NC, May 02, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Mark Hazinski (2530), top seed in both the Open Singles and Elite Singles event at the 2014 Butterfly St. Louis Open, hopes to follow in the steps of his coach Danny Seemiller (accomplished player, coach, and USA Hall of Famer) in his table tennis career.

Mark has chosen to attend the St. Louis Open to support his coach Danny and to help grow American table tennis. Growing up under Danny’s watchful eye, he views his coach not only as a mentor but also as a father figure who knows how to develop talented and elite American players from the ground up.

Already an accomplished player, Mark is a 2004 Olympian and three-time US Pan Am Team Member. In 2000, He gained fame as the youngest player to make the US National Team at the age of 15. Now considered an experienced veteran, Mark hopes to continue his success as a player by competing in as many tournaments as possible. His main focus is making his fourth Pan Am Team and his second Olympic team in the next few years.

Although continuing to train after graduating from Texas Wesleyan University in 2012, Mark has gradually shifted his focus to coaching players in and around his hometown of Plano, Texas. Inspired by his wife Sara’s involvement in coaching, Mark took up coaching seriously 2-3 years ago. He now gives group lessons at Plano Day School and private lessons at student’s homes throughout the week. He really enjoys sharing his knowledge of the game, and interacting with the next generation of US table tennis players through coaching.

Although he is the top seed in the 4-star tournament, Mark will still need to play at his best to secure both titles this weekend in St. Louis.

Continual coverage of the St. Louis Open and stories about the athletes will be available at http://butterflyonline.com, or via Butterfly North America’s Twitter at https://twitter.com/butterflyonline and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/butterflytabletennis.

Butterfly is the world leader in table tennis / ping pong equipment and gear. Butterfly will be the official table sponsor for the 2014 & 2016 World Table Tennis Championships as well as the official ball sponsor for the 2015 World Championships. Butterfly is also the official equipment sponsor of 2014 St. Louis Open and the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association 2013-2014 regular season as well as the 2014 College Table Tennis National Championships. Visit http://butterflyonline.com for more information.