Orchestra strikes a chord with sports maestros

2026-02-23 - 17:56

A band of top female sports coaches sat upstairs at the Auckland Town Hall, observing an Auckland Philharmonia rehearsal. They’d begun their day on Orewa Beach, working out with rākau sticks. In between, they took a bespoke percussion workshop, making their own music. This was no ordinary day for the current cohort of coaches taking part in Te Hāpaitanga, a programme to advance women in high performance coaching. Especially since this most recent ‘residential’, held late last year, was a collaboration with Auckland Philharmonia. So what did our emerging elite sport coaches learn about high performance from an orchestra? A noteworthy amount it turns out – about communication, excellence and more – with unforeseen benefits for both the coaches and musicians alike. Jody Cameron, Te Hāpaitanga programme lead at High Performance Sport New Zealand, says a few insights really stood out. “Practise, practise and more practise. Their standard of excellence is impressive. And much of their incredibly high standard of work is self-instructed, which I believe we can learn from,” she says. The Auckland Phil residential was jointly conceived by Cameron and Thomas Hamill, the symphony orchestra’s senior director of strategy and engagement. Serendipitously, Hamill is also a photographer specialising in sport and music. He’d photographed HPSNZ initiatives before – including Te Hāpaitanga residentials – and was uniquely positioned to notice learning synergies between the two organisations. “I see a lot of parallels in how athletes and musicians prepare,” Hamill says. “They have this kind of obsessive nature and passion, practising for hours and hours a day. So through conversations with Jody, who’s very musical and creative herself, we began to evolve this shared kaupapa.” Cameron says the collaboration took shape gradually: “We chewed the fat for a couple of years, keen to orchestrate something.” Principal percussionist Eric Renick with Te Hāpaitanga coaches Sport NZ’s Kelly James and Jody Cameron perform on drums Te Hāpaitanga cohort watch the Auckland Philharmonia rehearse. Photos: Thomas Hamill Then their ideas were validated during opera singer Eileen Stempel’s keynote presentation at last year’s HPSNZ Performance Summit. Stempel, the dean of music at UCLA (where the LA2028 Olympic Village will be based), explored excellence in arts and music, introducing the high-performance community to a world beyond sport. “I remember watching Jody being completely glued to Eileen’s presentation,” Hamill says. “Afterwards we said, ‘We’ve really got to do this’ – and the Auckland Phil residential coalesced from there.” Gabryel Oloapu, one of the Te Hāpaitanga coaches, says she gained new perspectives on leadership during the immersive three-day experience, seeing how an orchestra prepares for performance in a short timeframe. “In the sports world, we’re always looking at other sporting examples, whereas there’s so much of the world outside to consider,” Oloapu, the New Zealand U16 women’s water polo coach, explains. “To learn from the Phil and see what leadership and coaching looks like in their environment was very cool.” The coaches met every level of manager with the orchestra – from the leadership team to conductors, the concertmaster, section principals and small groups of musicians. “We had insight and access to an array of leadership and coaching,” says Cameron. “I was blown away.” She was particularly intrigued by the different ways musicians give and receive feedback. “In sport, you openly critique. It’s direct,” the Olympian and former Northern Kāhu basketball coach says. “Whereas the orchestra often address things non-verbally or use metaphor. There’s a kind of collective ownership. “They’ll say: ‘Are you okay? Do I need to...’ It’s the language; it’s beautiful. So it’s different. They’re not going for the win; they’re creating art.” Oloapu was equally fascinated by the way the musicians communicate with each other. “One of the principals explained how he influences the performance of people in his section so as not to belittle anyone or take away their individuality,” she says. “We watched how they have softer conversations and often communicate non-verbally. It might just be a look or a head nod. I picked out aspects to bring back into my coaching – not necessarily telling people what to do but how to influence them towards our common goal.” Te Hāpaitanga coaches watch a rehearsal Netball coach Paula Smith with percussionist Eric Renick Paula Smith, Kat Jones, Jody Cameron, Emma Miller and Gabryel Oloapu at Auckland Town Hall. Photos: Thomas Hamill The residential gave the coaches a range of opportunities to reflect on their own practice. The first session, following a mihi whakatau, had them making music themselves, under the guidance of principal percussionist Eric Renick and principal timpanist Steven Logan. “Eric and Steve brought out the percussion instruments and said: ‘Our objective here is to make you guys musicians within the hour’,” Cameron recalls. “They had the coaches stamping, clapping, listening, tuning into the group, moving together for a purpose; it was intense. It got the coaches straight into what we were trying to achieve.” For Oloapu, a sports manager at Diocesan School for Girls, this icebreaking session reminded her what it’s like to be a novice again. “Often as coaches we bring the knowledge and forget what it’s like to be an athlete or a kid,” Oloapu says. “It was important to go back to a place where we were the amateurs, we were in the learning hole having to listen to others.” Hamill was mainly observing through the camera lens, but says he also captured leadership insights. “I was photographing, but nonetheless I took a lot from what was happening,” he says. “When we have a start time in the orchestra, there’s no flexibility whatsoever. The conductor’s baton goes down and you begin no matter what. “At the start of the residential, some important conversations were happening outside and Jody let them run. Then the mihi and karakia was a powerful way for Eric and Steve to be introduced to the cohort – creating a sense of cohesion that helped them run an even better workshop. “It made us reflect on how we could enhance our own bicultural welcome and create more spaces for people to connect and reflect. Having more space to think critically was amazing for our people.” Similarly, Cameron noticed that members of Auckland Phil seemed fascinated by the way coaches continually analyse and reflect. “I think their observation was around how open we are,” she says. “They were intrigued by our constant questions and feedback. Coaches are very verbal, whereas conductors and musicians experience constant non-verbal feedback in the moment.” Hamill noticed a distinction, too: “The coaches were amazed by how much could be communicated through gesture. They were fascinated by the concept of the conductor, and the changes that can be made by tiny gestures rather than language.” The Philharmonia isn’t the only innovative environment New Zealand’s up-and-coming coaches have experienced. Previous residentials have been held in a range of diverse places, from a mountain to an equine centre – the latter highlighting non-verbal coaching. “We were in a learning space with ‘athletes’ that weren’t even human,” Oloapu explains. “Essentially the horse gave you whatever you were giving them. If you were pushy and overly assertive the horse gave that straight back to you.” After working with horses, the coaches were well placed to further develop their non-verbal skills, Cameron says. “The instrument does all the talking, so we observed better, we watched, we listened to cues. Some of the best coaches just cue with body language.” Auckland Philharmonia’s performance of Mahler No.3 at Auckland Town Hall. Photo: Thomas Hamill However they found plenty to discuss when the coaches met chief executive Diana Weir and other senior leaders at Auckland Phil. Oloapu found the meeting inspiring, especially because the senior women in the organisation were unapologetically themselves. “I think music is a place where female leadership is potentially more accepted,” she says. “Whereas that’s something we are still fighting for in coaching.” Women made up only 11 percent of New Zealand coaches at the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics – just one of many statistics that have resulted in investment in women’s coaching initiatives like Te Hāpaitanga. The current cohort is the fifth group of coaches to undertake the development programme. Their latest residential culminated with the group seated upstairs in the Town Hall once more, this time for the Philharmonia’s stirring public performance of Mahler No.3. Having witnessed preparations in the preceding days, the coaches saw how the symphony come together on ‘game day’. Cameron, Hamill and Oloapu say they’re still finding much to contemplate now they better understand the link between playing sport and playing music.