Pickleballers in the 808: Thomas Nakatsukasa and Darcy Tokunaga
Pickleball Couple Darcy Tokunaga and Thomas Nakatsukasa, after winning Silver in mixed doubles 4.0 at the September 2023 K2 Pickleball Tournament
Honolulu—Did you know? According to the website Pickleheads, players 18-34 make up the largest percentage of pickleball players nationwide, at 28.8%! This seems right—my 20-year old son just told me that last year, the pickleball courts at his college were “open a lot”, but this year, they’re “always full”.
Meet Gen Z couple Thomas Nakatsukasa and Darcy Tokunaga. Read on to learn about how Thomas got bitten by the pickleball bug and how they’re able to peacefully play with each other and still maintain their relationship.
Join me in getting to know Thomas and Darcy!
Currently residing in:
Thomas: Mililani
Darcy: Waipahu
Where did you grow up and what high school did you go to?
Thomas: Grew up in Kailua and Mililani, went to Mililani High School.
Darcy: I grew up in Waipio and went to Pearl City High School.
How did you discover pickleball and when did you start playing?
Thomas: Darcy’s coworker invited her to play and after that told me she thought I would like it so she took me her second time back. I started playing in mid-2021.
Darcy: I used to work at Pali Momi and my friends would always rave about how much fun pickleball was, so I had to see what the buzz was about! I only heard of it from the Zippy’s commercial a while back. Once you start though, you get the pickle fever and can’t stop playing! We’ve been playing since 2021.
Did you both play together from the beginning?
Thomas: Yes, Darcy is the only person I’ve played with from the very beginning to the present. We play with different groups sometimes though.
Darcy: In the beginning, I could tell that Thomas thought that pickleball was lame when I showed him videos of it, but he just wanted to support me so he came out to play.
Jokes on him, though, because he’s addicted now and plays more than I do! We’ve been playing together from the beginning and we play together most of the time. Sometimes we will play in different groups.
What’s it like playing with each other?
Thomas: It’s always fun playing with each other, it was definitely frustrating and difficult for Darcy before because I took balls I wasn’t supposed to, and didn’t get balls I was supposed to get, and she didn’t know what to do.
I can be all over the place sometimes. It’s a lot easier now because she knows what I’m going to do and we know how we play a lot more now. In rec play, we mainly play against each other because we have fun challenging each other, but in tournaments, we always play with each other.
Darcy: Playing pickleball with Thomas is always fun. I know some couples that refuse to play together because sometimes pickleball with your other half can be like this hahaha
But my favorite part about playing with him is that I never have to run for a lob! But besides all the normal, joking side-eye…we love playing together and mesh really well!
What do you do outside of pickleball?
Thomas: Outside of pickleball I like to work out, cook and eat. I work for a general contractor company as a carpenter.
Darcy: If I'm not playing pickleball, then I'm probably eating something good. I’m a huge foodie and I love to try new places and types of food. If I’m not at pickleball or eating, then I’m probably at school as a first year medical student at John A. Burns School of Medicine.
What do you love most about pickleball?
Thomas: The people I’ve met and play with, the people I’ve met through pickleball are some of my closest friends now.
Darcy: While its fun to play pickleball for the exercise and competition, the biggest part of why it is so fun is the people we have met because of it. Pickleball really brings people together from all over, and Thomas and I have been fortunate to have this new family of the most kind, fun, and amazing people because of pickleball.
What paddle are you currently playing with?
Thomas: I’m currently using the Julian Arnold Mach 1 Forza. Before that, I used the Ben John’s Joola Hyperion and Perseus and the Six Zero Double Black Diamond.
Darcy: I currently play with the Ben John’s Perseus paddle by Joola!
How often do you play?
Thomas: It ranges between 3-5 days a week.
Darcy: I wish I could play every day! I’d say probably twice a week if school isn’t too bad.
Mahalo Thomas and Darcy for sharing your story!
