Recent Penn Hills grad chosen for international rugby tournament

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, July 17, 2022 | 11:01 AM

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Penn Hills rugby coach Matthew Rosemeyer doesn’t know where his son, Charlie Joe, gets the motivation to tackle so many different activities. During his time at Penn Hills, the 2022 graduate played on the football, soccer, rugby and golf teams. Of all the sports Charlie Joe played, rugby may be the one where he has the longest career.

“He is self-motivated,” Matt Rosemeyer said. “I wish I could take some credit for it. Honestly, he does it all himself. He lettered in four sports this school year.”

Rosemeyer was chosen to play for the USA Rugby South team as part of the Rugby Americas North championship in Kingston, Jamaica from July 14-17.

USA Rugby South is an organization that is a subset of USA Rugby, which assembles the national teams. Rosemeyer said that USA Rugby South usually puts together teams to play against smaller countries.

“He’s loved rugby for a long time and has wanted to play a higher level of rugby for several years,” Matthew Rosemeyer said. “Just going is a win for him. I love seeing him do well and get selected. We’ll see what happens next.”

While Rosemeyer primarily played rugby sevens during his senior year due to the Big Red’s lack of numbers, this event was a 15-a-side event played under Rugby Union rules.

Charlie Joe plans to continue to play rugby in college when he attends Sewanee, which is also known as the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. During high school, Charlie Joe was instrumental in helping form the Penn Hills club, which was founded during the fall of 2019. The Big Red were slated to start playing in 2020, but it was put on hold due to the pandemic.

Penn Hills did win its inaugural match in the 15-a-side, beating Central Catholic, 28-5. Matthew Rosemeyer said the team may not have existed without Charlie Joe’s recruiting efforts.

Matthew Rosemeyer said Charlie Joe was excited to have a chance to play at a higher level and is hoping to try and keep progressing.

“This is an amazing opportunity for him to represent Penn Hills rugby and Penn Hills High School,” Matthew Rosemeyer said. “It is also a way to get noticed to play in higher-level games not only for USA Rugby South, but for USA Rugby. They call it a player pathway.”

Tags: Penn Hills