Bringing Her Japanese Passions to Mountain View: Nagai Finds Home with Lions
By Jim McCurdy
Growing up in Japan, Tokina Nagai wanted to play basketball and go to college in America.
She heard about Dallas College from her mother's friend's son, who attended Dallas County Community College seven years ago. She also has friends and members of her church community from Ehime, Japan who opted to attend college in Texas, some at Dallas College. That was enough to sell her on the Dallas College life.
"I wanted to go to college in America with my friends," Nagai said through her interpreter. "I felt more comfortable."
She enrolled at Dallas College North Lake last year, but, still wanting to play basketball, she began exploring other options. She spoke with Dallas College Mountain View women's basketball head coach Keitha Dickerson in the summer. North Lake doesn't sponsor a women's basketball team, and Dickerson was willing to give her chance, so Nagai transferred to Mountain View to play.
"My dream was to play basketball in America," Nagai said. "During my last year of high school is when COVID hit, so my games got canceled. I wanted to find a way to play basketball again and participate competitively. So I was looking for a place that had a women's basketball team, and I was looking for a place that was closer to where I lived. That's why I chose Mountain View. In watching them play, I thought they were really good, so I wanted to join."
Dickerson, who played with the Minnesota Lynx and Utah Starzz in the WNBA, following a four-year career at Texas Tech University, admires Nagai for her courage to go to school and play basketball miles away from her homeland. Dickerson, herself, gave overseas basketball a try, but it didn't last long. Now she's having flashbacks, wishing she had someone like Nagai to keep her going.
"It makes me think, 'Keitha, you could've made it," she began. "I went to Barcelona. When I went to Barcelona, it was after the Olympics, so everybody thought it was a beautiful place to be, and it wasn't that bad. But being a momma's girl, and always being at least four hours away from mom, and no more or no less, it was tough. To see her do it, I wish I had the courage that T has to go ahead and continue my career over there because when I didn't, I came back and played semi-professional, trying to stay in shape for the WNBA. I think it probably hurt me in an aspect because I could've went over there with their best of the best, and been ready to play, instead of playing with people that were aspiring to be where I was. So I commend her. I wish I could have done it like she's done. That's a big deal for me. She's a role model and an idol for me because I couldn't do it. I thought the seven-hour time difference was just horrible. They were up, and I was asleep. Yeah, I just commend her, and I'm just so proud that she's done it. And she's done it well."
Making Noise as a Lion
Nagai has played in 16 games this season, starting five. She's averaged four points, three rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.2 steals per game, while shooting 45 percent from the floor. She scored a season-high 17 points, going 8 of 9 from the field, and had five rebounds and four steals in a win at Southwestern Adventist University on Nov. 3.
It was her first college game.
A week later, Nagai scored 10 points, grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive glass, and had five steals in a win over Jarvis Christian University Junior Varsity. She had six points, a season-best seven assists, six rebounds and two steals in a win over Dallas College Richland Feb. 6.
Last week, Nagai and Mountain View (11-7, 3-1 Dallas Athletic Conference) wrapped up the regular season with an 83-49 win over Richland. A week earlier, the Lions beat then-No. 7 Dallas College Cedar Valley, 79-67. Now ranked No. 15 in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III poll, Mountain View will play No. 11 Cedar Valley in the South Central District Championship 2 p.m. Saturday at North Lake for an opportunity to advance to the NJCAA Division III National Tournament March 15-18 in Rochester, Minnesota.
"I'm only thinking about winning and going to the national tournament with my team," Nagai said.
Mountain View lost at Cedar Valley, 75-74, in overtime the first time the two teams met Jan. 26. When the Suns visited Mountain View Feb. 16, the Lions made it a point to change the narrative.
"My team was really frustrated that we lost that first game by one point," Nagai said. "We made the determination that we were going to win at all costs. My motivation was just about winning, and getting redemption. I really wanted to win because basketball was taken away from me in high school."
Tokina's True Side
At 4-11, Nagai knows she's undersized. She compensates for her height on the defensive end, trying to force her opponents to play lower to the floor.
"I'm just excited to have her," Dickerson said. "Never in my wildest dream would I have thought this was possible. One, because we don't have the resources to go out and recruit like that. I'm getting the opportunity to coach her, my first one from overseas. She's done a fabulous job. It may not show up in the stats every night, but she's a game changer. With her being so low to the floor and so quick, she can really change the tempo of the game, and get in there and make those players foul her. Looking at us warm up, you wouldn't think that T was going to step on the floor. But when she does, she steps on the floor, and she does well for us."
Nagai, who had a 4.0 grade point average in the fall, is majoring in health sciences. She is preparing to become a massage therapist.
"Living in the Dallas community is really refreshing," Nagai said. "I feel safe in some ways, and the people are friendlier than I expected. Because my English isn't really great, I get shy talking to American people. Around my Japanese friends, I'm really outgoing, really loud. I am trying to learn English so I can communicate better with my teammates and other people."
Don't be fooled, though. Whenever Nagai is in her comfort zone, she is known to light up a room with her bubbly personality. And she's been fortunate to find enough Japanese restaurants in the area to get her fix of salmon sushi.
In November, the Lions traveled to play Western Oklahoma State College. Dickerson is from Oklahoma, and wanted to give her family, including her 83-year-old grandmother, an opportunity to see Mountain View play.
"I never take the kids to an all-you-can-eat," Dickerson explained. "I just didn't think it was their style. Chick-fil-A is always the No. 1 and, of course, Whataburger. We traveled with the men, so we had to do what they do. We went to the Sizzler. T was about to eat something that she had never saw or ate before in her life. I had to tell her, 'That's liver.' We had to explain it to her over and over. She goes, 'No, no, no, I don't eat liver.' To take her to the Sizzler with how many opportunities we had … we didn't have Japanese food, but she's so willing to try things and outgoing. It's just great to see because a lot of my student-athletes are like, 'Oh, no Coach, I don't do that.' T's always willing to try something new. She loved the Sizzler. She loved the all-you-can-eat. If we can go to all-you-can-eat, T's going to be good."
International Excellence
After finding a spot on the Mountain View team, Nagai is better than good. She's living out her dream.
"Basketball is about playing as a team, and my coach is there to support us," Nagai said. "So I really appreciate my team and everybody I play with."
While this is the first international player Dickerson has ever coached, she doesn't consider it a roadblock.
"Basketball is universal," the 2000 Second Team All-Big 12 Conference selection said. "We all understand the game of basketball, so it makes it easier communicating with her. She's just a smart student-athlete. One thing about a player from overseas versus here, they're more fundamentally sound. They don't play above the rim a whole lot. They shoot better, they handle the ball better, they become better students of the game, so it's really easy. I didn't even think about the language barrier when communicating with T on the floor. We understand the basketball lingo. She understands what we're asking of her, and what we want of her on the floor. I attribute that to where she's from. They're really students of the game."
Her teammates have done their part to bring Nagai up to speed with whatever is being discussed.
"One thing about her teammates, and I've always had these types of student-athletes, and I don't know if it's student-athletes kind of have a lot of characteristics of their coach, but they're outgoing," Dickerson said. "They're family oriented, so they always make sure that she understands what we're speaking about, whether they write it down because she understands better when she reads it or whether they continue to try to explain it, but they've been great with T. They love T. T's been the same from the beginning to the end. She's never had a bad moment in the gym. She's always came in happy-go-lucky. She's always been consistent, so they love her. They always want to make sure that their sister understands what we're trying to do, and to make her feel comfortable with it."
You might say, it's been a smooth ride.
"I would've never dreamed it," Dickerson said. "Then as I sit back and think about the language barrier and the differences in life, not just basketball … I went overseas and played, and I couldn't make it. I tell them all the time, 'T is a special individual because, like your coach, you wouldn't have made it overseas, no matter how much you love basketball or whatever.' Having her as my first, it's definitely one I'll never forget. I welcome another opportunity if I get another that falls into my lap like she did. She's just been a blessing for us."
Lions assistant coach Chris Carter told Dickerson Nagai would make an impact before the season was over.
"Coach Carter kept saying, 'T's going to make a difference for you down the stretch,'" Dickerson said. "I didn't see it then. For her to play the position that she plays for us, the point guard, a reflection of me on the floor, directing the kids on the floor, she's just a special athlete. I hope I get a lot more Ts in the future.
"She's been a huge asset, not just on the floor, but in the classroom. She allows her teammates to see, 'Hey, I'm from a different country, I can adjust. I can do the things that they're needing me to do. You can, too.' On the floor, off the floor, she's been a huge asset. Playing the position that she plays, my point guard needs a breather. I don't like to take her off the floor a lot, but when we don't have her on there, it's like we never skip a beat because that's how ready (Tokina) is, and how smart she is. She's not going to do anything that we don't ask her to do. She's going to run the show, she's going to lead the team, and just be an extension of the coach on the floor."