Beating the long odds of a pro soccer career requires far more than natural talent.

THERE ARE MANY HOURS OF SWEATING IN SOLITUDE, practicing repetitive drills in the life of a pro soccer player. Apart from the MOMENTS SOME DREAM OF – stepping into a stadium illuminated by floodlights, SURROUNDED BY THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE cheering for you or your team, fans trying to grab your attention to get a photo – MOST OF THE WORK IS UNGLAMOROUS.

Few soccer players will experience the glamorous highs in their life. For a select few who make it professionally, it is a testament that their talent and hard work has paid off.

Adrian Rebollar, 25, a midfielder for Monterey Bay FC, is a Watsonville native. Many local soccer fans have seen him play since he was a little kid. “I grew up in this area so I get to see a lot of friends, meet a lot of people that are close to where I was born and where I was raised,” Rebollar says.

While enjoying the spotlight is part of the job, there are different factors including talent, discipline and family support that help players make it to the big leagues.

Rebollar’s first memory with soccer is playing at Ramsay Park in Watsonville.

“I remember my dad used to tell me for every goal that I scored, he would give me $5 or $10,” Rebollar says. “After that I would use the money and get some ice cream from the paletero.”

Rebollar says family support has been key to achieving his professional career from those early days until now. During his first season with the team, his parents and sister showed up to every home game with signs and MBFC’s flag to cheer for him. “I think they’re just as excited as me to come out here on game days,” Rebollar says; he always looks for them in the crowd.

Pros say that “making it” comes from a combination of factors. Some are the player’s responsibility, including discipline and skills. Others are about having a strong support system around them, from coaches and fellow players to family members. In part, the path to pro is a family affair. Parents invest time, money and emotional support every time their kids step onto the field. Off the field, there’s carpooling to practices and games (especially demanding for players on traveling teams), and fundraising.

Rebollar is playing professionally this season alongside other local players including Pierce Gallaway from Carmel and Joel Garcia Jr., a Salinas native who signed with MBFC this year. All three remember a time, not that long ago, that their parents would drive them back and forth to practices and games because they were not old enough to drive.

THE PATH TO PRO was a little different for each of them, but there are familiar patterns. They started playing at an early age, signing up with a local youth recreational team and later on climbing the ladder joining teams that offered better training and structure similar to that of a professional league.

Rebollar says he wanted to be part of a team since he was little, and he saved his birthday money for that purpose. When he was in kindergarten he remembers telling his mom: “I have the money for the registration, so sign me up.”

For Garcia, on the other hand, soccer didn’t have a lot of appeal. “When I was 4 or 5, my dad would always try to get me involved in soccer because my older brother was already playing at the time,” he says. But his reaction was negative: “I hated it. I never wanted to play soccer, get near soccer.”

He made a deal with his dad and told him he could sign him once he turned 6. And right on time, on his 6th birthday, his dad signed him up to join a team.

Garcia says the first day he played in denim jeans and regular tennis shoes. He felt a little out of place until he saw one of his friends. “Once I started playing with the ball, I was like, ‘this is pretty fun.’ I fell in love with [soccer]. Ever since, I’ve been obsessed,” Garcia says.

Gallaway was an active kid growing up and once he touched the ball, that was it. “I never really gave anything else too much of a shot,” he says. “[Soccer] just drew me instantly and I never really looked back.”

Growing up, Gallaway attended several Earthquakes games in San Jose and watched his favorite player, David Beckham, on TV.

Neither Rebollar nor Gallaway played on a high school team; both attended Santa Cruz Breakers, a soccer academy.

Garcia enrolled at Alisal High instead of Salinas High (using his aunt’s address) to make sure he would play for the Trojans. It was the team his older brother Mauricio played for and at the time, the team was ranked first in the California Interscholastic Federation Central Coast Section, ninth in the state and 30th in the country. While Garcia played for the Trojans, they won their first NorCal title in 2018. Rebollar and Garcia also played for El Camino Football Club Salinas, a traveling soccer team under the nonprofit Monterey County Soccer Club.

“I’m not surprised he made it, to be honest with you. He had all the tools. He had the emotional discipline, the mental skills,” says Garcia’s former coach, Mark Cisneros.

(Cisneros is now the soccer coach for Alisal High School and Monterey Peninsula College.)

Local soccer players have different opportunities to showcase their talents; at high school games, club games (ECFC Salinas is part of the Elite Clubs National League) and during national and international tournaments, like Copa Chivas in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Local coaches reach out to scouts from professional teams or they show up to games to check out local talent.

Garcia was recruited for the San Jose Earthquakes Academy after the Trojans faced their biggest rivals, the Everett Alvarez Eagles. A scout for the Quakes was watching other players, but Garcia was one of the players who got their attention. “I just play freely – I try to play to the best of my ability and just let God take over,” Garcia says.

Playing in the Quakes academy was eye-opening. Garcia says the quality, speed and strength were different than any team he’d played on before. “You see that there’s levels of soccer for sure,” he says.

ACCORDING TO A 2023 REPORT from the International Federation of Association Football, or FIFA, there are 128,694 male professional players worldwide. The leading countries are Mexico, Spain and England with 9,464, 8,560 and 5,582 professional players, respectively. Soccer is the most popular sport in these countries, which have youth academies that feed their professional teams.

The U.S. is far behind, with only 2,791 professional players.

These come from a pool of youth players numbering in the millions in the U.S. alone. While many dream of becoming professional players, the odds against even the best of these are rather striking.

Of all youth participants in the U.S., only 0.6 percent make it to any professional level. Even in football-rich countries like England or Brazil, the chances are slim – 0.56 and 0.71 percent, respectively, according to a compilation of studies presented by Football Bible. Research by the University of Essex in England found that even of the best teen academy players, only 4 percent make it to the top tier. Just 6 percent end up in lower level leagues.

It’s not any better for those who play college ball. A mere 1.7 percent of those good enough for American college soccer end up as a pro.

The University of Essex report even questioned the tradeoff between the work and discipline necessary to move up through the youth ranks versus enjoying recreational play. Discipline applies both on and off the field. When Garcia was still in high school and attending the Quakes academy in San Jose, his day started at 6am and ended between 10-11:30pm. Sometimes, exhausted after a long day, he didn’t have time to finish his homework.

“My parents always insisted on me having good grades, so I had to make it work. You sacrifice a lot of things to be able to do the thing you love,” Garcia says.

Managing it all was tough, but good grades are a requirement to play high school and college soccer. “If I was getting bad grades, I probably wouldn’t play as much,” Gallaway notes.

Rebollar says skipping parties, family and friends reunions wasn’t a loss for him because playing soccer is what he wanted to do. Enabling him to pursue his passion fell on others around him: “My family had to sacrifice their time,” Rebollar says. “That’s why I love playing here even more, because then they get to kind of feel like it was worth it, the time that they put into being with me and going with me on trips.”

Beyond self-discipline and family support, it takes athletic skills and a structure that supports the best players. “I was playing really well, and doors just started to open,” Gallaway says.

THE CENTRAL COAST REGION IS A HOTBED FOR SOCCER, and for successful players. Ramiro Corrales is one of the most successful ones. He played for various pro teams including the Quakes and HamKam, a Norwegian soccer team. Corrales also played for the U.S. national team and participated in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Since 2021, Monterey County has had a USL Championship team, MBFC. To attract local fans, the team hired several familiar faces including coach Frank Yallop, who coached the San Jose Earthquakes, and Corrales as assistant coach. They also hired two former CSU Monterey Bay soccer players, Walmer Martinez from Santa Cruz and Rebollar from Watsonville. Corrales served as assistant coach for MBFC and head coach for MBFC2.

The U.S. has several professional, semi-professional and amateur leagues for men and women. The top tier for men’s is MLS. It’s followed by USL Championship, a second tier professional team. On the third tier are MLS NEXT Pro and USL1. Semi-professional leagues include USL2 and National Premier Soccer League.

Local high school and college teams rank high in their divisions. The Hartnell men’s team won its first state title in 2013. The men’s team was the runner-up while the women’s team clinched their first state title in 2021. Last year, they ranked 12th and 17th, respectively, in the state.

Last season, several high school teams qualified for playoffs in their divisions. For boys, Everett Alvarez clinched Division I and Gonzales, Division IV. For girls, Salinas High and North Monterey County were runners-up in Division II and Division V. Everett Alvarez also won the CIF Soccer Championships in 2025.

There are even more success stories. David Estrada, who played at Alisal High School, started his professional career with Seattle Sounders FC in 2010.

Goalkeeper Emi Ochoa, 20, is a Salinas native who started his professional career at 16 with the Quakes and is now playing with Cruz Azul, a Mexico City-based team.

On the girls’ side, 17-year-old Vanessa Aguilar from Soledad plays for the Mexican U-17 national team.

Seeking to attract local talent, a year after MBFC’s first season, the team launched Monterey Bay FC 2, a pre-professional team; hundreds of players from Monterey County and beyond signed up for the tryouts and slots were filled within a few hours.

“There’s an exceptional amount of talent here at the youth level,” said Neil Diaz, then MBFC’s development officer, when they were developing the team.

During its first season, MBFC2 played at Rabobank Stadium in Salinas. The team won the USL League Two NorCal division. Gallaway and Garcia both played for the team at that time.

Since then, MBFC has launched an Under 18 team in 2024, a developmental academy that transitioned into Under 20 this year, a team that will provide younger players the opportunity to play games and join tournaments.

MBFC Technical Director Simon Dawkins says the U-20 team will focus on players who are 16 to 17 years old. The goal is to develop the players and train them under MBFC’s playing style and structure.

Starting young is crucial, Dawkins adds: “It’s important to do that. Get yourself in environments like this right now, and the earlier you do that, the better.”

And opportunities are still expanding. Monterey County Soccer Club has different teams including the Jaguars, part of the amateur Women’s Premier Soccer League. MCSC President Jorge Rojas says the men’s Jaguars evolved into MBFC2; now, they are seeking to do something similar with their women’s counterpart. “We are looking at transferring the women’s Jaguars into Monterey Bay FC and starting a women’s professional soccer team,” Rojas says. “That’s kind of the goal that we’re shooting for.”

Professional ambitions aside, soccer is popular because people love it, both to play and to watch. MCSC started in 2013 with four teams and today has 400 teams across the county, for both children and adults. They play at venues across the county including Salinas Soccer Complex, school district facilities, Rabobank Stadium in Salinas and Cutino Park in Seaside, yet Rojas says they don’t have enough fields to keep up with the demand.

The tri-county area has a large Latino population, many of Mexican descent, and soccer is part of their everyday life and culture. It’s common for kids to get a soccer ball for Christmas, or kick balls with their cousins or friends at the park. Recreational play is simply part of life.

Rojas says local interest in soccer has grown, but it isn’t because of the growth of professional development opportunities. The main factor, he says, is the FIFA World Cup 2026 that Canada, United States and Mexico will host next year.

THOSE WHO DO HAVE PROFESSIONAL AMBITIONS may have some unrealistic ideas, even if they do have the skills. Thinking of players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Leonel Messi or Karim Benzema – and the multi-million-dollar contracts they’ve signed – suggests professional soccer is a lucrative and long career, but that isn’t always the case.

“They think they’re going to become professional and get millions. It’s not that way. It doesn’t work that way,” says Sergio Herrera, director of coaching for ECFC Salinas.

Compensation varies depending on different factors including which team the player plays for, which league they are in, what position they play and their experience. According to the MLS Players Association, players under contract with the Quakes have a base salary from $71,401 to $1.8 million as of September 2024. Under a 2021-2025 collective bargaining agreement with the USL Players Association, the minimum monthly compensation is $3,100 (or $37,200 per year).

There are a few reasons coaches recommend scholastic players keep good grades and pursue post-secondary education. The chances of being recruited to a four-year college increase, for one thing – and attending college helps them develop the credentials and skills to have a Plan B in place.

(If young players sign a professional contract, it automatically disqualifies them from playing soccer in a four-year college since it violates the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s rules.)

According to a 2022 article from the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, the average career length for elite soccer players is between eight and 11 years, with many of them retiring between the ages of 31 and 35. Injuries are another factor that may derail a player’s career.

Rebollar, Gallaway and Garcia all attended college and played soccer at their universities. Gallaway played at Willamette University and Old Dominion University and has a bachelor’s in exercise and health science and a master’s in business administration.

Rebollar graduated with a bachelor’s in mathematics from CSUMB; he skipped his graduation because of work. That day, he was in Kentucky where he played the full game for MBFC against Louisville FC, winning 2-0. “Louisville, at the time, was Number 1 in the Eastern Conference, so it was super cool to win on my graduation day,” he says.

Garcia says he debated whether or not to go pro after high school. His parents, both ag workers, convinced him to stay in school. They told him he could get the best of both worlds: playing soccer and getting an education.

“I was a little bit stubborn when I was younger and just wanted to continue to play with the Quakes,” he says.

He made the choice to attend San Jose State, where he went on a full ride. He graduated in 2024.

“Now I have a bachelor’s in communications, and I’m able to play soccer every day, so I don’t regret it at all,” Garcia says.

He loves talking with younger kids and encourages them both to play hard and strive to get good grades in school, noting it’s a requirement for student athletes – and a smart plan for the future. “This career is so short, and thinking about your next step after [soccer] is very important as well,” Garcia says.

Garcia works year-around. When he was younger, he worked in the fields removing weeds and in cooling facilities. He is also a certified forklift driver. These days, he is a landscaper in the off-season and coaches kids.

Even at the pro level, glamorous moments are relatively few.