KEY POINTS:
A barrage of haka and a little bit of technology is helping break down barriers in the New Zealand Olympic team.
As part of the effort to make athletes not based in the main village feel part of the wider team, the Oly-Whites will be hooked up via a live video link back to Beijing when they take the field for their important first-up soccer match on Thursday evening.
The video link will enable athletes attending the official team function in Beijing to wish the Oly-Whites luck in their dressing room at the Shenyang Olympic Stadium.
Live links will also stream between the function and Hong Kong (home to the equestrian riders), Qingdao (the sailing venue) and Qinhuangdao (where the women's soccer team is based).
Most of the 182-strong New Zealand squad will be based in Beijing. When each athlete arrives they all face a welcoming ceremony complete with waiata and haka, but that has been more of a challenge for the teams based in the co-host cities.
The soccer teams visited Beijing last week before heading to their outlying bases. Over the next few days, chef de mission Dave Currie and retired champion cyclist Sarah Ulmer, in China as an athlete mentor, will visit Hong Kong and Qingdao.
Currie said he was determined to welcome those athletes into the wider New Zealand team.
"That sense of the power of the New Zealand team is very important," he said. "You are welcomed and you become part of this large Olympic family," he said.
Ulmer said the ceremonies brought everyone together.
"You have a feeling of belonging to a wider family which is pretty bloody supportive," she said. "It creates a feeling of a family. Even if you don't know the person's name or what sport they're in, you will eventually."
Another vital aspect of creating team unity has been the cafe set up in the New Zealand area of the athletes village. The cafe, dubbed "Bro Town", has become a popular hangout. They're even thinking of inviting the neighbours over.
"Roger Federer is one of our neighbours," Ulmer said. "He's not in the village yet but I think there'll be a few missions to invite him for coffee."
