READING FC's Danny Loader has joined a squad headed by England and Manchester City star Raheem Sterling.

The highly-talented young striker has been snapped up by Colossal Sports Management, whose clients include Sterling and Liverpool's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

"Danny is another exciting addition to our player roster," said a spokesman for the London-based company.

TIM Hamilton is to become chairman of Reading Hockey Club following Tim Mann's decision to stand down.

Micky Denehy, the Reading Cricket and Hockey Club chairman, said: "Tim (Hamilton) already puts a huge amount of time and care into the club and will help accelerate the development of the new vision and strategy for hockey."

One of Hamilton's main aims is to bring in some much-needed more revenue, stating: "We have excellent facilities at the club and we would like to see them being used a lot more by our members and non-members."

He says the Sonning Lane clubhouse is an ideal venue for several indoor sports, such as table tennis, snooker and darts, as well as for social events, wedding receptions and meetings.

Hamilton will continue his role as the men's 1st XI manager.

FORMER Berkshire County Cricket Club captain and Hampshire batsman Julian Wood has been appointed the new head coach to the Berkshire Women's county team.

He takes over from Danni Warren, who successfully coached both Middlesex and Berkshire and last season, guiding them to first and second place respectively in Division Two of the County Championship.

Danni is stepping down in an effort to balance her home life with an ever increasing workload.

However, she will continue to work closely with the Berkshire players attending the Middlesex Academy and the combined Berkshire/Middlesex Under 17 squads.

There will be no championship games this year, but Berkshire will be involved in the national T20 competition, whilst also playing 50-over friendlies.

READING University Boat Club's men's scullers are on a short-list of four in the University Crew of the Year category at the inaugural British Rowing awards.

The winners will be announced later this month.