It doesn’t take long to notice how much fun Kevin Anderson is having on any given night at Johnson Park.

Anderson, an official for the City of Andalusia’s youth basketball league, has been lending his knowledge about the sport he loves through both coaching and officiating for approximately nine years.

Anderson started coaching when his sons came to him and said they needed a coach.

“I said I’m not getting involved in that,” he recalled. “Then, they talked me into it, and then I started coaching them. I loved it.”

Anderson said he coached a lot of former AHS athletes, and remembers one year when his team won the city’s league championship, then district at Elba and advanced to the state tournament in Alabaster.

After all of his sons got done playing in the youth league, Anderson coached for two more additional years.

When his other son, Terrance, became a senior at AHS, Anderson stopped coaching to be able to see his son’s games.

About two years ago, Anderson began refereeing youth basketball games.

“I love it,” he said. “I just enjoy seeing them come up and run down the court and learning the game. I really enjoy it.”

On Monday night, the Heat beat the Bulls 24-19 during a boys game, and Anderson said that the game was a close and exciting one to call.

However, girls games can be quite “intense,” Anderson said.

“The one that’s the most intense to call is the girls,” he said. “You have to call those real close. If the girls get to playing and get to pushing one another, they retaliate.”

The most rewarding aspect of Anderson’s job as an official is being able to watch the youngsters grow to become good players at AHS.

Anderson is married to Cynthia, who currently serves on the city’s rec board.

“She loves it, too,” Anderson said about his wife. “As a matter of fact, if the grand kids weren’t there at the house and she wasn’t entertaining them, then she’d be over here.”