It’s not often you see a high school athlete quit a sport when they’re at the top of their game. But that’s exactly what Wayland High School senior Tobi Kylberger did.
As a freshman, Kylberger stepped into the No. 1 singles spot on the Wayland Warriors boys’ tennis team that marched all the way to the Division 2 state semifinals.
Kylberger once played soccer as well, but he hung up his cleats in the sixth grade. But then he decided to switch things up — like a deft baseline drop shot following a long rally — to focus solely on soccer.
The move has paid off, especially in the early going of the season. Through the first five games, he has seven goals and two assists. Those impressive numbers include a hat trick and an assist in a 6-1 drubbing of defending Division 1 state champion Natick to open the season.
“A lot of my friends were surprised that I decided to quit [tennis],” he said. “They knew that I was a good player and didn’t really understand why I would want to leave all of that behind.”
But after three years of exclusively tennis, he just wasn’t feeling the excitement he did when he was on the pitch, despite plenty of success.
“From the seventh grade until the end of my freshman year I barely touched a soccer ball,” Kylberger said. “At the end of playing tennis I felt a little more burnt out than disliking it. I found myself going to the turf [field] more with my brother [Matyas] and my friends.”
In his first year back in soccer as a sophomore, he played on junior varsity before being called up for the tournament. Last year he split between starting and coming off the bench, finishing with four goals and two assists. Klyberger is now entrenched as the team’s left wing and is one of the team leaders — a trait head coach Dave Gavron and assistant George Argyrou noticed last year.
“What really stood out for the coaching staff is we really saw a maturity in Tobi as a player and a young man,” said Gavron, who earned his 200th career win against Natick. “He has the ability to read the game. He makes smart decisions within the game. But at times, it feels like there’s a coach on the field.”
Another thing that stands out is Klyberger’s first touch. He knows where the defenders are on the field before he receives the ball, so he can make a quick initial move before a defender arrives.
“He has already scanned the field and knows where the ball is going even before it gets to him,” Gavron said. “He is able to dictate what he wants to do with the ball, as opposed to a sloppy first touch.”
Klyberger, who can be a bit difficult to follow on the field due to his constant motion, points to hard work in the off-season as one of the reasons for his scoring outburst.
“I definitely feel that I’ve gotten better, but I’m a little surprised at my scoring,” he said. “But I feel like I worked very hard during the summer and my [soccer] club season. I feel a lot more composed during games which comes with experience. I’ve been in situations multiple times so I don’t have to think about it too much.”
Of course, Klyberger, ever the team player, isn’t going to take all of the credit. He points to his teammates — like right wing Colton Alhart and midfielder Adithya Mattasngote — as the reason for his early-season success.
“This team is so good that it’s easy for me to score,” he said.
As far as the team being on a roll to start the season, a trip north certainly has contributed. The Warriors captured the Northern New England Challenge Cup, a prestigious preseason tournament in Yarmouth, Maine. It was the first win in the 20 years in which the school has participated.
“Since the [Maine] tournament we have the feeling that we can win a [state] championship this year,” Klyberger said. “We’ve had great chemistry, the coaching staff is giving us drills specifically for areas we need to work on, and we have great depth. I think we have all that it takes [to win it all].”
