Does anyone else find one of the most taxing parts of coaching is finding a way to keep everyone interested when practicing 5v4 scenarios etc where there is one or two players waiting for their turn. Of course it would be ideal if we could use all players all the time in our games but sometimes one or two players sitting out is inevitable to practice certain situations.

With young players sitting out I find they will just talk to themselves or sit down and not pay attention to the game. The best way I have dealt with it is always asking questions of the players sitting off about the game. Even doing this I find it hard to keep them interested, they are at the age where they are only interested if they are involved directly.

Anyone have any situations where they have dealt with this effectively?

(P.S I would only have the players off for 2 minutes or so at a time.)