Photoclubalpha

Mine are: set AF-C, set multi shots, hit gym & do more weight.

Getting the focus wrong and missing the timing

You didn't mean BAD habits?

David

Shutter Priority (remember to watch for the aperture notation to flash and adjust shutter speed if you're out of exposure range)
Adjust ISO so you can use shutter speed that you need
Center-weight exposure
Consider adjusting exposure compensation downward for outdoor sports, to avoid losing highlights in glare (esp. in white uniforms)
Shoot in Raw
AF-C continuous autofocus - hold shutter halfway so it continually focuses with your subject
Select center autofocus point and keep this point on your subject - you can crop later for better composition
Use focus hold button (on lens or on camera) if you want to recompose off center
Get to know your sport - you can anticipate what works and doesn't much better as you shoot more and more of the sport - every sport is different
Look for examples of great photos of your sport - in books, on-line - to get ideas, and then develop those ideas yourself
Most shots will be action shots, and should feature the ball, but don't forget between-action shots - extreme close-up of concentration on player's face, post-score celebration, pre-game team huddles, etc.
Pre-game practices offer the chance to get "game-like" shots of repetitive actions (sometimes you can be on the field during practice), but watch for backgrounds that reveal that it's not a game shot
Change position to get different perspectives of the game

TFD, you sound like Sonolta in sane mode (when he was taking his meds!)

Good points, you obviously shoot sports a bit.

About all I would add is shoot lots of shots, since you're not paying for film. Don't be afraid of having only one good shot in 20 or 30. Some guys are happy with one (newspaper printable) shot a day.

Dusty

Good to revive this topic, so welcome TFD.
Just one question: exposure compensation downward? am I missing something?

Dusty - Well, I finally got my MY dosages right, so I figured I'd weigh in on something I have learned a little about. With 4 kids who are active athletes, sports is often the only thing I have time to shoot.
Dr. Harout - What I meant was to underexpose by 1/3 or 2/3 of a stop. Lots of the sports I shoot are outdoors in midday sun, and the whites in the uniforms tend to get blown out - I've had much better luck bringing up shadows than in recovering highlights. Does that make more sense?

TFD wrote:Dusty - Well, I finally got my MY dosages right, so I figured I'd weigh in on something I have learned a little about. With 4 kids who are active athletes, sports is often the only thing I have time to shoot.
Dr. Harout - What I meant was to underexpose by 1/3 or 2/3 of a stop. Lots of the sports I shoot are outdoors in midday sun, and the whites in the uniforms tend to get blown out - I've had much better luck bringing up shadows than in recovering highlights. Does that make more sense?

I thought you should've done the opposite i.e. overexpose (shift to the right), because I was thinking you were trying to revive to highlights. My mistake, sorry.