Good sports photography is one part equipment and three parts knowing when to take the photo. Like many other types of photography, if you practice, shoot lots of photos and critique your work, you’ll earn big dividends.
FOOTBALL
Although getting the most powerful flash you can afford is a good start, the secret of taking football photos at night on a dimly lit field is waiting for the action to come to you. If your AF camera can’t focus fast enough, use your camera in manual focus, preferably at a pre-set focus distance and wait for the action to come to you. Move up and down the field as you need, but you won't get good shots when the players are in the middle of the field. Waiting on the sidelines for the action to come closer will enable you to get those important blocking plays as the runner is attempting to run out of grounds to stop the clock. FYI- stay out of the way of the players for your own safety and that of your equipment.
BASKETBALL & VOLLEYBALL
A basic rule of thumb when shooting these sports without flash is to use the fastest shutter speed possible. This will STOP the action. When a slow shutter speed is used, the resulting photos will be of blurry arms, legs and heads. Timing is everything. The photographer who anticipates when the ball is tossed, or one who waits that split-second for the action to peak, will be the one who gets the winning shot.

If the officials allow you to use flash, then by all means do. The brief duration of flash will freeze even the quickest motion. Many times, the referees are trying to protect the players from the distraction of nearby flashes. You may be able to assure the officials you will only use flash if it does not interfere with the game, such as when taking flash photos from a distance.

Using a camera with a faster flash sync shutter speed, such as 1/200th or 1/250th will reduce secondary ghost images. If using a flash is not an option, a lens with a faster aperture will be very beneficial. If using a film camera, selecting a high speed film will benefit you, but possibly at some increase in graininess.

A challenge of using a film camera without flash indoors is color balance. A digital camera will be able to correct for the lighting color. Because of the type of lights used in gymnasiums, there will be a color variance when using color film. Color correction filters may help film cameras correct for this in some cases, but they are usually not practical for sports photography, since the filter reduces the amount of light. Also, the sodium vapor and mercury vapor lights that are commonly used in gymnasiums are difficult to color balance, even with filters. A good processing lab should be able to color correct the final prints to minimize the off-color lighting even without a corrective filter on the camera.
SOCCER & CROSS-COUNTRY
Many of the same techniques used in photography of football and basketball can be used with these sports. Wait for the action to come to you. In soccer, use a fast shutter speed and try to anticipate the shot. With cross-country, place yourself at a strategic point in the race. Perhaps, where you can see the runners from a distance and you can focus on them (or have a pre-set focus) as they are running towards you. Get a photo of someone who adequately fills the frame. It will be better and more detailed than a small subject that needs to be greatly enlarged to be legible. Choose your location so you can quickly move to a nearby second vantage point to shoot additional pictures.

ESSENTIAL ITEMS FOR GOOD SPORTS PHOTOS
• LENSES A fast lens is easier to use for sports photography. While bigger and more expensive, a fast lens makes the viewfinder brighter for easier focusing, allows more light to reach the film or sensor so a faster shutter speed can be used and it increases the flash distance range. Usually a good zoom lens for most indoor sports is an 80-200mm focal length. For outdoors, a 70-300mm is an ideal size. At that range, you have from 1-1/2 to 6 times the magnification of what your eye sees.