Alex Megson is glad to be home.
After nine years away from the Puget Sound area, the Gig Harbor native and veteran forward signed earlier this year to play for the Kent-based Tacoma Stars indoor soccer team, following in his father’s footsteps.
Neil Megson, played for the Stars from 1983-1992 and later coached the Seattle Sounders.
“I grew up in the scene,” Alex Megson said. “I have always been around soccer. I slept in the (Tacoma) Soccer Center growing up.”
The 30-year-old is excited to be back near his family, including his mom, dad and five sisters.
“I haven’t been home for the holidays in nine years,” he said.
Megson looks forward to playing in front of his family and friends. The Stars kick off the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) season against Soles De Sonora at 6:05 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, at the ShoWare Center in Kent.
“They are all going to be in attendance,” Megson said of his family.
Megson began his indoor playing career in 2010 with the Chicago Riot in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). The next season, he played with the Syracuse Silver Knights. After a bounce back to the Riot for another season, Megson joined the Missouri Comets in Kansas City, where he won the 2014 MISL championship with Danny Waltman, who is now the Stars goalkeeper.
Megson knew who Waltman was while growing up since both are from Gig Harbor, but because Waltman is five years older than Megson the two didn’t become friends until playing together in Kansas City.
“We became friends right off the bat…,” Megson said. “He literally picked me up from the train station. I trained it from Chicago with all my stuff.”
Now it’s reunion time for the two players.
“Danny is a one-of-a-kind character, someone you can build a team around,” Megson said.
Megson is also excited for the opportunity to play under Stars coach and general manager Darren Sawatzky, who Megson’s father coached on the Sounders.
“I have played on a lot of teams and I can just tell from watching the team and seeing all the right steps they are making, it is awesome to be around,” Megson said.
In Tacoma’s first full season in the MASL in 2015-16, the Stars qualified for the playoffs, but were knocked out in the first round by the San Diego Sockers.
“Definitely from what I see, our team should do what we did last year making the playoffs,” he said.
But Megson doesn’t want to get ahead of himself.
“We are just looking at this one game at a time,” he said.
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