There’s tired out on the field and then there’s tired out in the fields.
Adrian Rebollar knows the difference.
“Working hard on the soccer field is nothing compared to what people around here have to do,” said the Monterey Bay F.C. midfielder ahead of a dream home game against MLS champions LAFC. “[They’re] out in the fields before the sun comes up, in the cold and the heat, to provide for their families.”
Rebollar grew up in the heart of fruit-growing country in Watsonville, California – tucked away in Santa Cruz County with Monterey Bay to the south. His father, who emigrated from Mexico City before Adrian was born, worked his way up from picking strawberries and raspberries all day – day after day – to become a supervisor in the fields. And his mother, after the picking day ended, sold strawberries from the back of a truck in the parking lot of a local K-Mart.
“I grew up in this,” said Rebollar, who was outstanding in the second-year USL Championship side’s shock win over the San Jose Earthquakes of MLS in the Open Cup Third Round. “Growing up, a lot of my friends and their families came from Mexico and were undocumented, so working in the fields was a job they could do and were willing to do. And they did it for a lot of years.”
Forged in Those Fields
“It’s a Watsonville’s thing,” he added of his hometown, ten miles inland from the Pacific coast. It’s predominantly latino and working class. And it’s smack in the middle of the area’s agricultural economy.
Rebollar is short and wiry. A tireless player who reads the game with a maturity beyond his 23 years. And he didn’t grow up on the edges, getting whiffs here and there of the hard work done by the people of Watsonville. He was forged in it.