By Rich Palzewic
Sports Contributor<\/p>\n
DE PERE \u2013 Recent De Pere High School graduate Teddy Sieber said once he learned to trust his body and not worry about getting hurt, his rugby career took off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 6-foot-4 and weigh 240 pounds,\u201d he laughed. \u201cYou can\u2019t play rugby scared and worry about getting hurt \u2014 it doesn\u2019t work that way. Playing rugby for the first time as a freshman [with the De Pere Red Dogs], I was overthinking. As soon as you shed those thoughts and find your confidence, rugby becomes so much more fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sieber\u2019s rise in the rugby world recently culminated with a first for a Wisconsin high school rugby player \u2014 a scholarship offer from Queens University of Charlotte.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoach Tyree Reed at Queens told me that I was the first rugby athlete from Wisconsin that the university has ever recruited,\u201d Sieber said. \u201cOf course, that makes you feel good and realize all the hard work has paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sieber, who also played four years of football at De Pere, said men\u2019s collegiate rugby is not an NCAA-sanctioned sport.<\/p>\n
Even though it\u2019s not sanctioned by the NCAA, he said Queens plays at the Division I level for its athletics, highlighted by the men\u2019s basketball team making the NCAA Basketball Tournament for the first time this past March.
A quick look at Queens\u2019 rugby schedule from the 2025-26 season shows the Royals played against the likes of Kentucky, Tennessee, Navy and Ohio State \u2013 all Division I schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because it\u2019s not an NCAA sport doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re not playing competitive schools,\u201d Sieber said.<\/p>\n
In all, Sieber said he probably had about two dozen schools across the country reach out to him to play rugby.<\/p>\n
However, he said, he only seriously considered about five.<\/p>\n
\u201cSchools that reached out ranged from Division I or II schools to club teams,\u201d he said. \u201cMy strategy was simple \u2014 I applied to a bunch of different schools that had a good rugby program to match the academics. After I applied to the schools, I\u2019d email the coaches. That way, if they contacted me back, I could tell them I was already accepted. I think that made it a lot easier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sieber said initially, he didn\u2019t think Queens was a viable option because of the financial cost, but after receiving scholarship money for both academics and rugby, a good portion of the cost will be offset.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a full ride but a lot cheaper than what it would have been,\u201d he said. \u201cI did a three-day, two-night visit to Queens and stayed with one of the players. I flew to Charlotte by myself and caught a game and the environment \u2014 I loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sieber said he could have also stayed home and played football at St. Norbert College in De Pere, but ultimately, his passion lies with rugby.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be studying sports management at Queens,\u201d he said. \u201cThe school has 100% of its students do internships, so with Queens being in Charlotte, there is professional basketball, football and rugby. I plan to get my foot in the door, start networking and getting hands-on experience right away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tA lot of work<\/p>\n
With rugby having a few variants of style, Sieber said sevens and fifteens are two popular versions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith sevens, they play on the same size field, but with half the number of players on the field, there is a lot more running and open space,\u201d he said. \u201cWith fifteens, there isn\u2019t as much space, and it\u2019s a bit more strategic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rugby training, Sieber said, entails a lot of cross-training.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be able to lift more than the average runner but also be able to run more than the average lifter,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to run consistently for 80 minutes but also run max-out and then recover your heart rate again. On top of that, there\u2019s strategy and hitting hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
By his own admission, Sieber said he wasn\u2019t a very good rugby player when he first began with the Red Dogs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really bad,\u201d he laughed. \u201cI was still trying to learn the game, and our team also wasn\u2019t very strong. When I started as a freshman, I think we had 15 guys total, which meant we had no subs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Going into his sophomore season with the Red Dogs, Sieber said he ramped up his training for both football and rugby.<\/p>\n
Adding more muscle and size, he said his Red Dogs\u2019 teammates also voted him captain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we still weren\u2019t very successful as a team, I feel I really came into my own as a player,\u201d Sieber said. \u201cThat gave me a lot more confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Sieber received all-state honorable mention status after his sophomore season, he said that\u2019s when he realized rugby was something he felt he could really excel at.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy confidence, both as a leader and a player, continued to rise,\u201d he said. \u201cMy junior year \u2013 my second year as captain \u2014 is when I really started looking into recruiting opportunities and started to explore more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once he had the physicality piece down, Sieber said he began focusing on other aspects of his game.<\/p>\n
He said that included increasing his rugby IQ.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow could I learn how to play the game from a smarter angle?\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s when I started networking and reaching out to different schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
If hard work and determination mean anything, you can look for Sieber to be suiting up for the Queens rugby team beginning this fall.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tDe Pere High School graduate Teddy Sieber,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t rugby career,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t De Pere Red Dogs,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Queens University of Charlotte,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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