Half of team and coach beginning to handle attack (6)
I believe the answer is:
ambush
'attack' is the definition.
(ambush can mean to attack suddenly)
'half of team and coach beginning to handle' is the wordplay.
'half of' means to take half the letters.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'coach' becomes 'bus' (synonyms).
'beginning to' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'handle' is 'h'.
'team' cut in half is 'am'.
'am'+'bus'+'h'='AMBUSH'
(Other definitions for ambush that I've seen before include "Surprise attack" , "Await and intercept unexpectedly" , "(Where enemies) lie in wait" , "Lying in wait to attack" , "Wait in hiding to attack" .)