BREMEN, Ala. – In this interview, I talked to former Cold Springs basketball and baseball standout Cody Bales about his Eagles career.
Cody shared some of his best sports/high school memories from Cold Springs.
“Two of my best sports memories is winning the county and area championship in basketball in 2021 and also making it to the second round of the baseball playoffs that year,” Bales said. “Another memory was winning the area championship this past year in basketball. Some of my best high school memories was definitely getting to see my friends and faculty every day. Getting to talk to my friends and faculty every day was a big part of my day. If I was having a bad day, my friends would come up to me and say, ‘Hey, what’s wrong’? then we’d talk about how our days was to each other after they figured out what was wrong. Another one of my memories was just always being able to play in the big sports games against Good Hope and Addison in basketball. The energy in the gym those nights was just awesome. It was loud in there no matter what, whether we were winning or losing. You could always count on the student section to make some noise and just be the best every game.”
Bales feels very blessed to have played for two outstanding coaches during his playing career.
“I loved playing for coach Willoughby. He always had energy on the sidelines,” Bales said. “When we would be doing good things, he was always just telling us, ‘Great job. Keep doing what you’re doing.’ He was always just a great coach and he’s been pretty successful pretty much wherever he coached. I loved playing for coach McSwain because he always tried making the games as fun and as competitive as they can be. He always tried to tell us what we were doing wrong and how to fix what we were doing wrong. We maybe didn’t have the best year in baseball this year, but I wouldn’t have traded this past season for anything.”
Cody learned an awful lot during his time at Cold Springs. He also talked about what he’ll miss the most and offered some advice to those students getting ready to start high school this upcoming year.
“I learned in high school, don’t ever take anything for granted,” Bales said. “Everyone just needs to be their self and go have fun with what they do, whether it be playing sports, being in the band, or being in clubs at school. You just need to be yourself in high school and always have fun. High school is the best four years of your life. Don’t take those four years for granted because it will fly by and then you will graduate and move on to the real world. I’m going to miss playing sports and seeing my friends and teachers the most.”
Bales added,
“My advice for those people fixing to start high school is to be yourself. Don’t let anyone change how you want to do things. Be kind to others and have fun while it lasts because it’ll fly by.”
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