Keep your eye on the ball. Ask any sports photographer and they will all tell you most great action shots will include the ball or puck or a portion of it. Now that’s not to say that all sports shots follow this rule, but most do. How can you best position yourself to get great sports shots? Whether “ T Ball” Little League or High School you can get great action shots with a little practice and some luck. First, know the game. Anticipate the play and be ready. You don’t need a super telephoto.
 

Let’s take football. If the one team possesses the ball, they are moving in one direction to the end zone. If you position yourself ahead of the play in the end zone they will ultimately come to you. You just have to sit and wait. Well it takes a little more than that. You need to be ready. Since most sports are fast moving you’ll want to freeze the action. I like to use shutter priority setting on my camera. “S” in Nikon, “Tv” in Canon. A shutter speed over 1/500th is best. You may need to adjust the ISO rating to get to the desired shutter speed. I like to start with a longer lend on the end zone and either zoom back as the action gets closer or switch to a shorter lens. In covering pro sports I keep a second body ready with a short lens (50mm) in case the play ends right in front of me.
The shot of Moss making a fingertip reception on the one-yard line was made this way.
Camera was a Canon Mk II n with a 300mm lens; shutter speed was 1/1000th at ISO 320