OOAK Table Tennis Forum

When I started playing table tennis, and even before then I heard a lot about Barney Reed Jr as being the top US born table tennis player. I saw him on Ellen, and have seen him before just randomly for different promo events I'm sure. I have also seen him on TV before playing TT.

My question is, how did he become good growing up in the US? Also What is he doing now? I haven't really heard much about him in the US tournaments, or abroad. If someone knows I'd be interested in hearing about his history and current events.

Isn't Hazinski the top U.S. born table tennis player? And why can't a player become good growing up in the US? We have really great coaches in the US and really good clubs. However, 99.9% of the population will never be taught by these coaches nor will they live close enough to these clubs. Americans also tend to do stupid things like refuse to play local competitors for fear of those players "learning their style" which ultimately hinders everyone's development.

More on topic, Barney Reed Jr. was the top U.S. born table tennis player right before he was suspended for failing an Olympic drug screening due to over-the-counter meds. The two year suspension has long since been lifted, July 6, 2003, but he pales in comparison to Hazinski. He was trained by his father and has also trained with players from around the world, including Taiwan's coaches and team.

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USATT rating - 1971

I was there watching him recently in the final of the open event in the New York City Open against Yue Wu. He was up 3-1 and looked unstoppable, but then she came back to win 4-3, getting better with each game. Seemed he really fell apart, especially in this last game:

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Hazinski is the top US born TT player, currently. Maybe it was different when I was younger, it seems like Hazinski is a little younger (I'm not sure). Also I feel like Barney looks a little more like the stereotypical white boy. Also I have just seen him a little more on TV. Is he still improving or is he on his way out of the sport?

I think he is currently an underdog. I don't think he's faded completely out of the sport, but I'm not sure he can match up with the big names of the US anymore.

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USATT rating - 1971

I haven't seen him listed at the top of major events since the ban. He was very skilled, it's too bad.

I was lucky enough to play doubles with him at the first Killerspin Holiday tournament, which must have been around the holidays in 2004 if I remember correctly. If you were rated under 1500 (which I was at the time) and you entered early, you could enter the open doubles and get paired with one of the Killerspin pros. That was a real thrill for me. In our round robin we beat a team composed of Mark Hazinski and another lower rated player but lost to a very good team of two guys rated above 2000. He was very nice to me and was giving me all kinds of tips, which I give him a lot of kudos for, because he could have totally blown me off if he wanted. Not to mention, I accidentally stepped on his foot once and he didn't get mad at me at all.

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"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
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BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Barney won the Sacramento Winter Open held Saturday Jan. 30th 2010 and I've seen him play in several Bay Area tournaments. That Sacramento tourny had him winning hard-fought matches against Rocky Wang (LP BH) and Maggie Tian (SP RPB), as well as a win over Robert Shahnazari (LP BH). I also saw him play in the 2010 Western Open (JOOLA) where he lost in the open singles SE to Jiaqi Zheng.

Barry's father still teaches table tennis at our club, used to seeing him teaching on most Saturdays. However, I have not seen Barry Reed Jr in the club at all.

I lost to Barney last summer in the finals of the Knoxville open last summer.
I think he is at a higher level than Hazinski if he is training.
I think he is the USA's best homegrown player.
He told me he was playing on and off in the German leagues.

Petermoo

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Found a site that has some recent tournament results on him in case you are still interested. He recently beat one of my friends who is a 2400, so he is still playing his rating these days.

http://ttspin.com/p/ttspin?rm=ViewP&pid ... t=name-ASC

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USATT rating - 1971

Good to hear that he's still playing at a very high level!

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"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

NPR story on Barney Reed: http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2012/04/28/ba ... ble-tennis

It's too bad he didn't get to qualify for the Olympics this year. He made the qualifying tournament, but didn't make it through. Given that there are some very good youngsters coming up, in 4 years his time may have passed.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Both Reed and Landers are playing in the final Olympic qualifier in Doha, Qatar. The link to the whole list is in my blog.

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Thanks for the info, I didn't realize they still had another shot after not qualifying in the event that took place a week or so ago.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5