The havoc I was referring to was for the baserunners who would be forced to go from "that's a can a corn...he's definitely got this" to "oh shit there is no way I'm making it to third." The fielders are going to try to catch the ball whether the ump calls IFF or not.But catching the ball during that havoc is exactly a skill that they need to learn. I mean, there are routine fly balls in little league baseball, but they don't really start until 11-12-ish, and as kids go up through baseball the havoc is still there, it just takes other forms (4 kids in totally different positions screaming "Throw the ball here!!!!!" as parents yell different directions from the stands as just one example." "Letting the defensive player off the hook" is absolutely not the goal of the rule. I am not trying to be a dick to the kid who has a hard time fielding a pop up, but learning that skill is important at that level.
Yeah...I am going to totally disagree with the notion that teaching good baserunning is folly. Starting at age 9 we spend significant amounts of practice time working on it and continually reinforce good techniques during games and it pays huge dividends as the season progresses and the players get older. Getting out of the box fast, running through first, taking a turn, running out a double, tagging up, going halfway, IFF, sliding, secondary leads, picking up the base coaches, etc. are all covered.Teaching "the right way to run the bases" at age 10-12 and under is a bit of a folly, IMO. If running the bases properly was a real goal, then stealing wouldn't be allowed at that level (I could go on and on about this, ftr. Personally....I would advocate that kids at that level in rec only be allowed to steal for one or two innings per game. But that's just me). You can't get those kids to master running the bases, you can just teach them how not to make huge mistakes. Reasonable people can absolutely disagree here.
Given the lack of control of the pitchers and the inconsistent ability to catch the ball I agree that steals can be a problem. We manage this by limiting the number of steals at this age. The team is allowed 3 and individual players are limited to 2 per inning.
Agree to disagree.I would way rather kill the IFF rule for kids under 10-12, but there is a sense in parents and often a few coaches that it is the only rule that makes the game legimitate.