Hagen Foley CBA ‘21 Preparing for What’s Next

Basketball has been so much more than a game to CBA’s Hagen Foley. Starting way back in 3rd grade, Foley has made an impressive career for himself.

In third grade, Foley started playing basketball for his local CYO team. Playing for them for a couple of seasons before moving to travel ball in 7th grade. Most recently playing for Swish. For school ball, Foley has been playing for CBA since the eighth grade. Making the jump to varsity his freshman year and never looking back. 

This past season, Foley had an all-around great season. Putting up 20 ppg, 6 reb, and 5 apg. Putting up great numbers on the hardwood. Foley has been recognized for his astounding work on the court. Taking home Second Team All-Suburban Council in 2020, and First Team All-Suburban Council in 2021. 

One area that Foley hopes to improve on before playing at the next level is his defense. “Get quicker and keep playing against people who are better than me to be able to read moves better.” Foley is constantly working to improve his defense and to get stronger and it will only be a matter of time before he adds this to his already dominant game. 

Foley attributes a lot of his growth as a player to his Coach at CBA. “Growing up I always went to high school basketball games, and I was kind of scared of Coach Doemel and how he coached, and then over the years of playing for him he just spent a lot of 1 on 1 time with his players and I got really close to him that way…as I kept playing varsity we would talk way more and he’s a really cool guy.”

Foley stated numerous times how close he got to Coach Doemel and how much he learned on and off the basketball court from him.

One player that Foley mentioned he liked to compete against was Colonie Central’s, Ashon Wright. “I played against him a lot throughout my life and we are pretty good friends now.” Basketball is so much more than a game to a lot of players. It is about building lifelong relationships with people that you might not meet, especially in high school. Oftentimes the athletes who find multiple ways to appreciate the sport they love are the athletes who get the opportunity to play at the college level.

Like many other athletes have, Foley, listens to a lot of Kobe Bryant’s speeches to motivate him to work on his game, and like just about every other person was, he was shocked when he first heard about his death. “When it first came out I didn’t think that it was real and it was just a terrible situation.” Kobe Bryant was such a big inspiration to many ballplayers and people in general and his death was one of those rare sports deaths that shocked and saddened the whole world.

Foley has yet to commit to anything yet beyond high school, but he hopes with whatever he does, that basketball is a part of it. With his talent and work ethic, Foley can make that jump to the next level and maybe even beyond.