Invasion Games — Football Skills — Year 3 Lesson Plan
National Curriculum: PE KS2 — use running, jumping, throwing and catching in isolation and in combination; play competitive games, modified where appropriate; apply basic principles of attacking and defending
Overview
Pupils develop football-specific skills — dribbling, passing, receiving and shooting — within a structured lesson. They apply these skills in small-sided games, developing tactical understanding of when to dribble, when to pass and where to position themselves. The lesson builds on basic sending and receiving skills from KS1 and introduces positional play.
Learning Objectives
- Dribble a football with both feet, keeping the ball close when moving at pace.
- Pass accurately to a partner using the inside of the foot from up to 10 metres.
- Receive and control a rolling ball using the inside or sole of the foot.
- Make decisions in a game about when to dribble and when to pass.
Key Vocabulary
Suggested Lesson Structure
Each pupil with a ball: dribble around cones in a figure of eight, both feet. On signal: dribble fast to a line and stop the ball on it. Cone weave race in pairs. Introduce pressure: one player dribbles, the other jogs alongside trying (gently) to nudge the ball away.
Passing technique: plant non-kicking foot beside the ball, ankle locked, kick with inside of foot through the centre of the ball. Demonstrate the difference between toe poke (inaccurate) and inside-foot pass. Pupils practise with a partner: 5 metres, 8 metres, 10 metres. Receiving: move to meet the ball, cushion it with inside of foot, turn and control. Demonstrate bad reception (letting ball bounce away) vs. good (coming to meet it). Shooting: in a small goal, dribble from the halfway line and shoot. Discuss: when should you shoot? When should you pass?
Rondo: four attackers pass around the outside of a grid, one defender in the middle tries to intercept. Attackers count consecutive passes. Rotate defender after they intercept or after two minutes. Coaching focus: support play — attackers should always be available to receive.
3v3 small-sided game on a small pitch with small goals. No goalkeepers. Team that scores most goals wins. Teacher pauses play occasionally to ask: 'Why did you dribble there? Could you have passed? Who was free?'
Cool down: slow jog, then quad and hamstring stretches. Ask: when is dribbling better than passing? (When you have space and no defender; when no teammate is free.) When is passing better? (When under pressure; when a teammate is in a better position.)
Common Misconceptions
- Pupils dribble with their toe — consistently redirect to inside of foot for control and accuracy.
- Thinking the player with the ball should always try to score — passing to a better-placed teammate is often the right decision.
Prior Knowledge
Pupils should already be able to:
- Basic kicking and rolling from KS1 games lessons.
- Concepts of space and support play from invasion games unit in Year 2.
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