John Maisano
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | John Marcel Maisano | ||
| Date of birth | 6 January 1979 | ||
| Place of birth | Melbourne, Australia | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1996–1997 | Australian Institute of Sport | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1997–1998 | Atalanta | 0 | (0) |
| 1998–1999 | Westerlo | 10 | (0) |
| 2000 | Helmond Sport | 3 | (1) |
| 2000–2002 | Marconi Stallions | 42 | (6) |
| 2002–2005 | Greenock Morton | 92 | (19) |
| 2005–2006 | Ayr United | 3 | (1) |
| 2006 | Stranraer | 4 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 1994–1995 | Australia U17 | 10 | (1) |
| 1997-1999 | Australia U20 | 9 | (4) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10:00, 11 May 2009 (UTC). | |||
John Maisano (born 6 January 1979) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as midfielder. Maisano played for Atalanta, Westerlo, Helmond Sport, Marconi Stallions, Greenock Morton, Ayr United and Stranraer. He also represented Australia in the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship and the 1999 FIFA U-20 World Youth Championship before retiring from professional football in 2006.
Maisano returned to Australia with his wife in 2011 where they began their entrepreneurial careers with the launch of Alien Fitness, a chain of fitness gyms based on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria.
Personal life
John Maisano was born in Melbourne to Italian parents Giuseppe and Giuseppina. His brother Marco was born in 1981.
He moved overseas in 2000 to pursue a career in professional football and eventually resided in Greenock, Scotland with his Scottish wife Leanne, whom he married in 2005 during his time at Morton. In 2011, Maisano returned to Australia with his wife to start their own business after working within the fitness industry for several years. Their daughter Alexis was born in 2014.
Maisano went from the heights of professional football to restarting at the bottom of his career as a casual employee for a fitness company, to now fast becoming one of the most reputable and rising leaders within the fitness industry today.
Football career
Maisano began his professional football career at Italian Serie A team Atalanta. However, his introduction to football came at the world-renowned Australian Institute of Sport and it was after a year there (1996–1997) that he moved overseas.
During his time at Atalanta, Maisano represented his country at international level. He was part of the Australia under 17 squad in the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Ecuador and the Australia under 20 squad that took part in the under 20 World Championships in Nigeria. Harry Kewell was a team mate in the under 17 competition while Brett Emerton was a team mate in the under 20 tournament.
Maisano returned to Europe in 2002 when he left Marconi Stallions and signed for Greenock Morton. This was only a few months after his younger brother Marco had also joined the club. He (John) was an integral part of the Scottish Third Division championship winning side in season 2002/03. He left his biggest performance for the most important match, where the title was won on the final day of the season versus Peterhead.[1]
After Morton he had brief spells at Ayr United and Stranraer.[2]
Maisano retired from professional football in 2006,[3] aged only 27 years old.
Post-football
After retiring from football, Maisano spent the subsequent years working as a personal trainer in Scotland alongside his wife.
In 2009, the couple were contestants on series 2 of the revival series Gladiators in the UK, becoming the first ever husband and wife team to participate on the show.
In 2011, Maisano and his wife decided to return to Australia where they identified the Mornington Peninsula as the ideal location to set up their home, family and to launch their business venture Alien Fitness. In the years since, Alien Fitness has grown extensively and is renowned for its positive influence on the local community and for being "one of the most talked about and innovative fitness clubs on the Peninsula".[4]
In 2012, Alien Fitness won the Business NAB Excellence Award.
References
- ↑ "Morton are champions". BBC. 2003-05-10. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ↑ "Stranraer snap up Aussie Maisano". BBC Sport. 3 February 2006. Retrieved 19 September 2008.
- ↑ "The Maisanos brothers, from Marconi to Morton". The Roar. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ↑ "Alien Fitness: Nothing Like It In This World". RPP FM. Retrieved 2016-02-03.