Meaning & use
coaching
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
Training given by a skilled person to help someone improve at a sport, skill or subject.
Grammar: No a before it: she gives coaching, not a coaching.
Patterns
- coaching in something
- coaching for something
She gets coaching in tennis twice a week.
He offers coaching for students who are preparing for exams.
Good coaching can turn a nervous player into a confident one.
noununcountablebusiness
A style of support at work or in life where someone guides a person to set goals and solve problems themselves.
Grammar: Often found in life coaching or career coaching.
Patterns
- career coaching
Her manager used coaching to help her prepare for promotion.
Executive coaching helped him improve his leadership.
verbtransitive or intransitive
Present participle of coach: training or guiding a person or team.
Grammar: With an object: coaching the team; without: he is coaching this year.
Patterns
- coaching someone to do something
She is coaching the local girls' soccer team.
He spent the summer coaching young swimmers.
Word forms
| base form | coach |
|---|---|
| third person singular | coaches |
| past tense | coached |
Common combinations
- life coaching
- She trained as a life coach after leaving law.
- coaching session
- Each coaching session lasts an hour.
- coaching staff
- The coaching staff reviewed the video.
- receive coaching
- All new managers receive coaching in their first year.
- personal coaching
- He paid for personal coaching to improve his golf swing.
Synonyms and how they differ
- training
- Training is broader and may be done alone or in a group, while coaching suggests one guide working with a learner.
- tutoring
- Tutoring is usually about school subjects and is more academic.
- mentoring
- Mentoring is a longer relationship in which an experienced person gives general guidance.
- instruction
- Instruction is more formal and focuses on teaching steps rather than motivating a person.
Word family
Commonly confused: coaching or teaching?
coaching vs teaching
Teaching passes on knowledge in lessons, while coaching helps someone develop their own skills through practice and feedback.
Practice
Our swim team's results improved after we started ___ with a former Olympic athlete.
Choose one answer.
After the preposition with, the noun coaching fits. The other forms are the wrong part of speech or add an unneeded article.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “coaching”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.