Canberra’s Nick Kyrgios is already influencing the territory’s next generation of tennis players. Two ACT teams of four, a boys and a girls team, got to travel to Melbourne last week to play in the Super 10s national finals. And part of the experience was a training session with the Australian Davis Cup squad, of which Kyrgios is now part. Kyrgios, still only 18 himself, has taken to blogging since his Twitter followers grew to almost 16,000 following his courageous second round loss at the Australian Open. Kyrgios is still coming to grips with the fame and, from his latest blog, also coming to terms with playing mixed doubles. “I managed to make my mixed doubles debut with Arina Rodionova, it was good fun and a new experience for me, she kept telling me to smack the ball at the other girl but I didn’t have it in me to do it, perhaps when I’m a bit more hardened to the tour?”

Canberra’s basketball star Patty Mills is starting to light things up in the NBA this season, dropping six three-pointers for 18 points in San Antonio’s win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday. But you’ve also got to love his down-to-earth style. Mills posted this pic on Twitter during the week, his novel way of avoiding pet allergies while walking his dog – snow goggles.

Raiders and Kangaroos forward Josh Papalii is tough, but his ability as a snakehandler has been greatly exaggerated. Raiders prop Brett White posted a photo on social media during the week of Papalii holding what looked to be a red belly black snake by the tip of the tail. But the snake – which we assure you was rubber – was an ongoing gag of Raiders coach Ricky Stuart during the training camp in Coffs Harbour. Stuart had warned the players on arrival about a problem with snakes in the area. Then he picked them off one-by-one throughout the week, in private situations, like individual video sessions. The players were sworn to secrecy each time, so the prank was repeated on them all. We’re told Papalii wasn’t so brave when he first encountered the snake, while winger Sami Sauliuma almost posted a Commonwealth Games qualifying time he sprinted away so quick. There are plenty of reports that the Raiders trained the house down, but Stuart is also conscious of building an upbeat spirit in the squad after last year’s troubles.

There will be a cheer squad at Raiders NRL matches this season, but there’s still no guarantees it will involve the Raiderettes. The Raiders have completed a review of game-day entertainment and will be conducting auditions next month to find a performance group for home matches. The Raiders are not even necessarily looking for a dance group, just something out of the box to try and add to the live crowd experience. It sounds like a cross between Australia’s Got Talent and So You Think You Can Dance?

ACT athletes are firing early in the season in their bid to represent Australia at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Sprinter Mel Breen jumped out of the blocks with an A-qualifier 11.32 seconds in the 100m on Friday night, despite undergoing a heavy weights session the day before. Hurdler Lauren Wells (nee Boden) ran a B-qualifier, but she only did her first hurdles training last week since the world championships in August. “I’m not really peaking for the Australian domestic season, I’m getting ready to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games in July,” Wells said. But javelin thrower Kelsey-Lee Roberts even surprised herself too, setting a huge PB and A-qualifier with a throw over of 60.12m at the same local meet on Friday. Roberts is also a talented netballer, having played a key role in Arawang’s State League grand final victory against Canberra last year. After five seasons with Arawang and having come through the ACT program, the 22-year-old will take a year off to concentrate on her athletics career in preparation for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. “She’s an amazing talent and we’re so proud of what she’s achieved,” Arawang coach Kim Symons said. “We’re going to miss her, but she’s definitely made the right choice.”

Former Wallabies captain David Pocock will make his comeback from injury in the Brumbies’ trial against the Otago Highlanders in Queenstown on Friday night. But while he has overcome his injury, Pocock had to turn his 68,000 Twitter followers for help last week. Pocock had sent a signed jersey to Darwin for auction in his charity, EightyTwenty Vision. But the jersey went missing in the post and Pocock put the call out for a fan to take the jersey from Canberra to the Northern Territory or for airlines Qantas or Virgin to courier it for him. The jersey made it on time. Let’s hope his comeback is a little smoother.

The AIS will launch a new logo on February 3 and inside word is it will be green and gold. It is perhaps fitting, on Australia Day, that we point out the AIS felt the old logo colours of red, white and blue did not really represent Australia internationally. Funny, given last time we checked, those were the colours of the Australian flag. The revamp is all part of the Winning Edge plan, which focuses on making Australia a mainstay of the top-five on the Olympic medal tally.