KINGWOOD — Preston striker Monty Rebelo is quite the athlete.
He became a focal point of the Knights’ attack on the soccer pitch last fall, tallying 14 goals on the season. One day, he was in gym class at school when a classmate wanted to see if he could kick a football as well as a soccer ball.
Rebelo set up on the field and began drilling field goals through the uprights. One of Rebelo’s friends who played football for the Knights whipped out his cellphone and began recording. One thing led to another, and Rebelo found himself talking to PHS football coach Jonathan Tennant about joining the squad.
“I asked him if he’d ever kicked a football before, and he showed me a video of him kicking. I told him practice started at 3:30,” Tennant said. “I was a real impressed with what I saw.”
Taking over kicking duties for the final stretch of the season, Rebelo made five extra point attempts and a 29-yard field goal, and averaged 30 yards per punt. Tennant also discovered Rebelo was the second-fastest athlete on the team and is looking to use him at wide receiver as well this fall.
With critical varsity experience under his belt, Rebelo hopes to help lead the Knights to success after a tough 2017 season that saw them win just on game.
Tennant believes he is just the type of athlete who could pull it off. “His greatest attribute is his competitiveness. He wants to compete in everything; he’s a perfectionist. He has confidence, he’s competitive, and a natural athlete — you have all three of those attributes and you have something special.”
Of course, soccer is his first and foremost passion — he picked up the sport at 4 years old and hasn’t looked back since.
PHS soccer coach Mike Adams describes Rebelo as a driven athlete on the pitch who will have a large impact again this season for the Knights.
“He carries the team on his shoulders and thrives on both ends of the field. We used him as a striker and he scored
14 goals, but when we played a tough team, he helped on our defensive side,” he said. “He’s one tough kid — he thrives under pressure.”
Rebelo also plays basketball in the winter and lacrosse in the spring, and credits his time playing football and lacrosse as large aspects in prepping him to be tougher on the pitch. He is working hard in the off-season, cross-training for three sports in hopes of success.
“There’s weightlifting for football in the beginning, and then I start football, basketball and soccer practice,” he said. “If I have time, I’ll work on my lacrosse skills, as well.”
Rebelo’s multi-sport focus taught him to make the most of every training opportunity, as he doesn’t get as many practices as his teammates — and opponents — for either of his fall sports.
“I go to soccer Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and I do football Wednesdays and game days,” he said. “My goal is just to work as hard as I can every practice, workout and game and hope that as a team, we do that, as well.”
In the long run, Rebelo hopes that his involvement with each team sparks success, and he hopes to decorate the PHS trophy case with some new hardware this year.
“I’d really like for us to go to the playoffs in football, and make deeper postseason runs in soccer, basketball and lacrosse than we have the past few years,” he said.
