"by Tony Waiters & Bobby Howe. The golden age of learning. Players should not be wingers, strikers or fullbacks at this time in their soccer development and experience. Nor should there be a permanently-positioned and recognized team goalkeeper. These youngsters are soccer players. They are not even attackers, midfielders or defenders.

The duty of the coach is to give each player the opportunity to develop all the skills of the game - including goalkeeping. Positions and positional play will begin in earnest with the move into 11-a-side soccer - hopefully at 12 years of age.