If you want to freeze the action in a photo, you’ll need to use to choose a faster shutter speed. 1/250th of a second should be enough to freeze kids playing soccer, but you’ll need to go a lot faster if you want to capture a baseball in mid-flight. Experiment and find what shutter speed you need to use in order to produce sharp images.  It takes a bit of practice to get right, but if you match the speed of your subject, you can hold them in focus while the directional blur emphasizes the sense of movement. Find the “sweet spots” – the places on the field of play which are the perfect distance away for your camera and lens combination. You’re going to get your best images when the play is in these areas. By taking a high risk, high reward approach to composition will result in some magnificent images. Another reason is to use zoom so you can  capture expressions. The most memorable sports shots show faces full of emotion even if that is the joy of the game, the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.