Amir Lancaster takes the pitch in pro-rugby tournament

AUSTIN, Texas — Three years of corporate sales straight out of college was all Amir Lancaster needed to push him to pursue his passions.

Fast forward to the present, Lancaster is a real estate agent in Austin, a reality TV star and a rugby player. He is part of the Texas Team in the PR7s League that is kicking off with the Eastern Conference kickoff tournament Saturday, June 17, at Q2 Stadium.

Doubling in size from the year before, PR7s now features eight franchises, with both men’s and women’s teams under each franchise. To localize the league and increase community engagement, PR7s has regionalized teams to compete this summer. Originally from Dallas, Lancaster moved to Austin to establish a career. He was the perfect candidate for the Texas Team.

Amir Lancaster at practice with his team. (Premier Rugby Sevens)

“I’ve been playing rugby since my junior year of college, staying fit, staying in shape. Trying to be a top-tier athlete has always been my dream ever since I was a kid. I’ve never really lost that edge,” said Lancaster.

Lancaster plays with the Austin Blacks, a local club team. They just went to the nationals this year. One of the coaches at PR7s is a player on the Austin Blacks. After a successful season, he recruited Lancaster to play on the franchise team that represented Texas.

“The training process for me to do rugby is a lot of explosiveness just because of my position. I’m what’s called a wing, so if you compare it to American football or soccer, I’d be considered your forward or running back. So I’m all speed, a little bit of technical ball handling. The training is anything you can imagine an NFL athlete would be doing on top of endurance runner,” said Lancaster.

His skills and ability on the pitch stand out to others in the league.

“He’s a quality player. He really has a lot of talent, athleticism in the game of rugby. He really gets along well with his team. He just has an infectious personality and people want to be with him, and I think for his teammates, I think it’s cool they respect him for how hard he trains as the player,” said PR7s general manager Michael Tolken.

On top of playing rugby and furthering his real estate career, Lancaster also manages his social media influencer platform alongside being a reality TV star.

“[Real estate] ultimately was what gave me the freedom to pursue all these different things I love to do. Rugby, reality TV, social media, and then tie them all back into a business. I wanted something where if I made a good living, I had the opportunity to give back to my community and give back to the people who helped me get there. So once I learned a little bit more about real estate in Austin, and just how I could use my sphere of influence, I was like, I think this is my calling. Ever since then, I’ve just loved it every single day,” said Lancaster.

(Premier Rugby Sevens)

Lancaster was part of Bravo’s first-ever all-Black cast on “Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard,” which airs every Sunday. Wearing all of these hats has helped grow Lancaster’s platform of influence, and he wants to use that to increase rugby’s presence in Austin and in Texas in general.

“Honestly, I just want to bring awareness to it here in Austin, Texas. It’s one of the most slept on sports in Austin and we have a lot of ex-collegiate D-1, even professional athletes that are still yearning to have something to do, and so I’ve introduced a lot of my friends to it, and if I can continue to spread awareness in Austin, I think eventually Austin and Texas in general will become one of the biggest hubs for rugby,” he said.

PR7s is excited to have Lancaster and his wide influence this season.

“We need to attract people to the game. We know we play good rugby, good sport, but I think for him, he also brings the element of being a well-known personality. He really is energetic. He makes people attracted to him, so that really works for us on a number of levels,” said Tolken. 

Saturday’s game kicks off at Q2 Stadium at 4 p.m. Participating in the Eastern Conference are the Texas Team, New York Locals, Southern Headliners and Pittsburgh Steeltoes.