At 10U-11U, tournament weekends are the first time most coaches face real pitching management pressure. With pitch count limits of 75 pitches (10U) or 85 pitches (11U) per day and mandatory rest days, you need 6-8 kids who can pitch across a three-game weekend. Here's how to plan your entire tournament before the first pitch.

A typical weekend tournament has 2-3 pool play games on Saturday and a bracket game on Sunday. That's 4 games in 48 hours. If your best pitcher throws 70 pitches in Saturday's first game, he needs 4 rest days — he's done for the weekend. If your second pitcher throws 50 in game two, she needs 2 rest days — also unavailable Sunday.

You need depth. At 10U-11U, that means identifying 8-10 kids on your roster who can throw strikes and mapping them across the weekend before the tournament starts.

Step 1: List your available pitchers. Rank them by reliability (strike percentage, not velocity). At 10U-11U, a kid who throws 60% strikes is more valuable in a tournament than a kid who throws harder but walks four batters an inning.

Step 2: Assign game-one starters. Your best pitcher starts game one. Plan for 40-50 pitches, not a full 75-85. Pulling your starter after 45 pitches on Saturday morning keeps them below the 2-rest-day threshold, meaning they could pitch again on Sunday if you need them for an inning or two.

Step 4: Protect Sunday arms. Identify 2-3 pitchers who will NOT pitch on Saturday at all. They're your Sunday starters, fresh and rested. This feels wasteful on Saturday. It wins you Sunday's bracket game.

Step 5: Adjust in real time. Your game-one starter gets rocked and throws 25 pitches in two innings. That's actually good news — 25 pitches means only 1 rest day. He might be available for Sunday after all. Rizzler's tournament planner recalculates availability after every game.