Marmonte Players Brace for Long Day : Prep basketball: Big Saturday, the pairing of schools for five games at a single venue, arrives amid criticism from many coaches.

In an effort to meet the demands of a crowded basketball schedule, Marmonte League administrators have devised a plan that would pair three boys’ and two girls’ teams from two schools at one gymnasium for a full day of games.

League officials dubbed the event Big Saturday, but the plan is expected to provide big headaches for players and coaches when it gets under way Saturday.

“It really doesn’t make sense,” Simi Valley boys’ Coach Dean Bradshaw said. “A lot of things haven’t even been considered. It’s a mess.”

Administrators devised the plan in the wake of repeated criticism of a league schedule that called for teams to play three games in a school week on two occasions.

The league had adopted that schedule after coaches complained about playing league games in December.

In order to squeeze in 14 league games between Jan. 2 and Feb. 9, Monday games were added to the Wednesday-Friday schedule twice a season. That plan was criticized because it forced players to stay out late on yet another school night.

Under the newest plan, which was devised in May and will be reviewed at the end of the season, schools will play Wednesdays, Fridays and on two Saturdays.

The Big Saturday starts with a freshman/sophomore boys’ game at 12:30 p.m., followed by the girls’ junior varsity (2 p.m.), the boys’ junior varsity (4 p.m.), the girls’ varsity (5:30 p.m.), and the boys’ varsity (7:30 p.m.).

On the first Big Saturday, Newbury Park is at Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks is at Channel Islands, Camarillo is at Westlake, and Agoura is at Royal.

League coaches have criticized the novel format, claiming it creates numerous travel and logistics problems and that it forces teams to twice play on consecutive days.

Under normal circumstances, all three boys’ teams and their coaches travel together. But on Big Saturday, the sophomore boys play seven hours before the varsity, making it a long day for any varsity coach who wants to watch his sophomores. In addition, varsity assistants who work with the lower programs must either spend all day at the gymnasium or shuttle to and from games.

“I suggested that we go ahead and let the girls play the late game, just so we can have (the boys’ and girls’ teams) playing consecutively,” Bradshaw said.

“If we’re going to do something like (Big Saturday), do it with schools that are closer together,” Thousand Oaks Coach Ed Chevalier said. “(The administrators’) thinking is good. But the way it is structured just doesn’t work.”

Locker-room logistics also could create problems. Traditionally, visiting teams use the girls’ locker room to dress and shower.

“Let’s just see how it works out,” Westlake Athletic Director Jack Loritz said. “It might be a good thing, or it might be a disaster.”

Many already have concluded that it will be the latter. Coaches claim that administrators omitted them from the decision process.

“They really didn’t confer with us,” Bradshaw said. “By the time we had heard about it and were ready to renege, it was final.”

According to Principal Dave Ellis, Simi Valley was the only school to vote against the plan.

“I just think it puts too much pressure on everybody, especially the kids,” he said. “There has got to be a better way.”

Not everybody feels that way; the plan has been used with success by the league’s soccer programs.

“I think having it once in a while is kind of a neat thing,” Thousand Oaks girls’ Coach Chuck Brown said. “The day could get kind of long, but it’s a nice idea.”

Bradshaw doesn’t expect Big Saturday to last past this season.

“Most coaches are saying, ‘Let it go one year and it will fall on its own face,’ ” Bradshaw said. “And I think that’s what it’s going to do.”