The only lens I had available was the Nikon 18-200 superzoom - for the reach. Here's try my 3rd attempt, after getting some pointers from master Lemur (I knew him from a fantastically addicted facebook game Realm of Empires), sometimes known as Bruce Elliot (he shoots rugby).
Lessons learned are:
1.Fast shutter speed. Try and get at least 1/1000, to freeze action. Otherwise, they'll turn out blur like 
2.Watch the background - or it'll be crowded and fussy like the pic below, and.... not so good. You can't always help where spectators stand, but if given a choice, move to where they are not at.
Problem:
3. My problem was when it got dark, I just couldn't get the shutter speed fast enough, or had to bump up ISO, for a noisy shot. 
And I convinced myself that *of course... hehe* I think I have max-ed out the ability of this lens, and *need* something with bigger aperture.
Shopping
Staying with the realm of the sane (you can spend many many thousands of US$ on lenses....), I narrowed down my choices to the following available to me in Indonesia - The King (Nikon 70-200 VR2, new for US$2.4k or 2nd hand for US$2k)
I would love this. Part of Nikon's trinity. It is the best, in terms of longevity, features and price. But I don't think I could justify the cost to myself (and even harder to the wife), esp since I'm not making money from this. *Salivate*
- The Prince (Nikon 70-200 VR1, 2nd hand for US$1.5k)
Perfect for DX camera (like my D90). Fast auto focus, has image stablizer. Advance lens system.
- The Cousin (Sigma 70-200 OS, New US$1.3k)
My friend Bruce uses a Sigma, and lots of people use and do recommend this. It has lots of features, and maybe.... 90-95% of the The King, for a 2/3 the price. I'm not brand snob, but I searched the 2nd hand website, and NOBODY was selling this lens. Rather, I think there is NO demand for this - so this has no resale value. (whereas you can get 80-90% of the value for Nikon, if still in reasonable condition.
- The Baby (Nikon 80-200 AD ED, New US$1k, 2nd hand US$850).
I was all set on The Prince, before a good photo buddy, Edo, told me to consider this. Gasp.... this is a lens launched in the 90s - abt 4 generations back. Strangely, Nikon still makes this brand new, whereas the 2 after this, has since been stopped. Besides it being technology from > 10 years back, it has NO image stablizer, no motor within lens to drive the auto-focus. But the price was just too good to ignore. So a little research was required.
Researching
I'm a gear head - ok, now that we got that out of the way - and I love researching camera equipment. But the most useful websites are actually
Amazon - lots of users reviews
Thom Hogan - seems well respected reviewer of equipment, who uses them
Ken Rockwell - He reviews lots of stuff, but gets mocked a lot online. So read with an open mind, and take it as an opinion.
Well, I decided that you don't need VR (Image stablizing) for sports photography, as you try and shoot fast (1/1000). From the websites, I decided on The Baby, concluding that the optics were pretty good, I'm not sure the focussing is fast enough - since I have *only* a mid range D90 - this lens cannot be used by low/older camera bodies since you need a focusing motor - but most reviewers said it can be used for sports (some did say it was too slow).
The main decision point was of course the price.
If I didn't like it, or want to upgrade later, since I found a copy only 6 months old, with 18 months of warranty left at 85% of one brand new, I could always sell it off, with no or little loss. Starting with the "basic", I could very well find it to be good enough for my purposes.
Initial feedback
Just shooting in my house, a little last night and this morning, I do find:1.It's hard to shoot it hand held, in lower light - esp with a lens this large with no VR.
2. Auto-focus is slower (than my 24-700, which is world class), and loud. I'll take it out for test run tomorrow, and see how it fairs.
Keep learning new things in photography, trying out new skills, and keep shooting!
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