Coach Profile: John Schiavo

John Schiavo is a Long Island, NY born professional hockey player. He credits his dad for putting him on skates for the first time at 3 years old and from there his passion for the game was born. John’s journey is unique from many in that his childhood years focused much on the game of roller hockey over his time on the ice. As a standout hockey player on wheels, John began his professional playing career at the age of 15 in New York. This was a pivotal time as he was submerged into an environment surrounded by veteran hockey players from various backgrounds, including the NHL, which lit an increased passion to further develop his ice hockey game. John’s experience in professional roller hockey, and intense dedication to ice hockey, led to invitations to the New York Islanders Rookie Camps in 2015 and 2016. An impressive demonstration of skills opened the door to the beginning of his professional ice hockey career as well. While John’s pro ice hockey career began to take shape, he also had the opportunity to fulfill a life-long goal of playing for Team USA at the IIHF Roller Hockey World Championships in 2017. The team was successful in bringing home the gold medal, and World Champion title. He joined Team USA again in 2019 to bring home the gold medal in the World Roller Games in Barcelona, Spain. John is entering into his 8thh pro ice hockey season in the ECHL, and just finished his 13th professional roller hockey season. One of only a handful of players in the country to simultaneously play both games professionally. In line with his ambition in hockey, John has an entrepreneurial mindset and thrives on setting goals outside of playing hockey to continually motivate himself to have a well-rounded portfolio of success. As a teen, he started a YouTube channel to showcase his love of challenging trick shots, which he is now known for all over the world. He now shares related skill content on Instagram & TikTok as well, culminating in tens of thousands of followers across his social media platforms. The skills that he has developed through inventing and executing these unreal shots has also served to improve his overall game through increased creativity and unrivaled hand eye coordination. A huge benefit of the attention that his social media provides is that other hockey players, from all walks share their motivation to improve their skills as well. This continues to inspire John to coach and develop young players through his very own skating & skills clinics, as well as a variety of support roles through other hockey organizations across the country, including the New York Islander Organization. John opened his first training facility in New York in 2019, and followed that with the opening of Best Shift Hockey, with his partner Kelly, in Eagan, MN in 2021. Train with Coach John privately or at any of our Spring Clinics & Summer Camps.