A. Be organized.
Know what you want to cover before practice. Think it through. I always write out every session (at least a summary of it) Of course there are always adjustments to make, depending on how many kids show up, etc. But having a plan and knowing what space and equipment you'll need will keep your session moving.

B. Keep Activities Short
I generally try to spend no more than 15 minutes on one activity. And of course, the younger the age, the shorter the attention span. The variety and changing challenges will keep kids interested.

C. Keep all the players involved.
Dont run "drills" where only 2 of the 15 kids are doing the activity, and the other 13 are waiting in a line. That is boring! This is why small group games are so great. You can set up 2-3 workspaces with the same activity, and suddenly everybody is playing and maximizing their touches.

D. Progress from simple to complex.
If you have read my thoughts on the overall training session, you will see that we progress from simple to complex, both in the tasks demanded of the player, and the number of players involved, and the size of the workspace.

An example -- Say you are working on passing. You are in the technical phase, having 2 players pass back and forth. The simplest task would be passing with the side of the foot at a short distance - say five yards. You can add complexity and evolve the activity by increasing the distance between the players. Then you can ask the players to use both feet. Then you can ask the players to accomplish the task with only 2 touches. Then you could ask the receving play to use their first to play away from pressure, instead of having the ball die at their feet. So you have now progressed from very simple to pretty complex in a short period of time, and the overall technical phase has become interesting and challenging.

E. Create a positive environment
I have two thoughts in mind. One is to be very encouraging to players. Ask them to try new techniques - and allow for failure, after all that is how we learn. Players attitudes generally reflect the coaches demeanor. If you are not having fun, I am sure the kids arent either. The younger the players, the more imaginative you have to be.

The second point is varying activities, so that the kids have success. Dont ask them to do things they are sure to fail at. You can vary the training environment to insure success in the following ways.

1. Amount of defensive pressure.
You can do an activity first without any defense at all, to insure that the technical skills are mastered. Then you can add defenders, first they play in a passive mode, and then in an active mode. The number of defenders can be varied also. Say you are working on crossing - at first you might have no defenders, then say 4 attackers vs 1 defenders, and continuing adding defenders.

2. Vary the size of the workspace.
The smaller the workspace, the more difficult the task will be. So you want to be aware of success rate of your activity, and add or subtract space as needed.

Warm-up
Technical skills
Small group games
Scrimmage

It is a good idea to have a theme running throughout the session. Like finishing. Or passing for posession. Or whatever your team needs to work on.

Warm-Up:
For warm-ups, I always use some type of ball work.

Technical Skills:
Say we are working on shooting. I might have the kids work on striking the ball with the laces over a very short distance to a partner. In technical work, we are looking for technique first. In this example, your coaching points would be -- pointing the plant foot towards the target; keeping the toe pointed down; following through towards the target, etc.

Small Group Games:
This is a very important part of the training session, because almost all facets of the game of soccer are contained in a small group game. 3 v 3 and 4 v4 type numbers are tremendous learning tools. So, for example, in this shooting session, we might set up a game of 3 v 3 on full goals on a very short field to encourage shooting at every opportunity. Or, you might play a game with the offense having numbers up, like 6-4, or whatever advantage builds success for the offense. As they become better, you lessen their advantage.

Scrimmage:
Of course kids want to scrimmage, the warm-ups, technical work, and small group games are generally perceived by the players as nothing but a burden and something to get over with, so they can PLAY!

But, continue your theme into the scrimmage. Find restrictions or conditions to reinforce your lesson plan. For example, you might again play numbers up, or use "neutral" players that always play offense to provide numbers up.

Also utilize the freeze methodogy -- when see a breakdown, freeze the game; and ask the player to see of he could make a different decision with same circumstances, and then restart.