I should clarify what I'm looking for. I'm not trying to take the artistic shot that everyone on the Internet will think is cool. I'm talking about photos that are most meaningful to the people in them or were at the event. I'm not a professional taking pictures to hang in a gallery. I'm a hobbyist taking pictures at events and sharing them with the players. My payment is in complements and when one of my photos becomes someone's Facebook profile picture.
Expressions, good tip.
In that case, get as tight as possible and really show the action. If that's the shot you are looking for, then having people in the background or other items can make the image cluttered. Sometimes, there's no choice, but if you can get in tight, it can work very well.
You can also still think outside the box to get some cool shots of the players in action but get all the action.
But if you want that "action" shot, getting all in tight gives you the action and usually some great expressions (as I haven't seen anyone yet that doesn't make a face when they chuck a disc!)
Such as Paul Ulibarri, in a shot I took last year at the Vibram Open:
Also, you mentioned focusing. Not sure on a Nikon, but with Canon, there's the servo settings. Not the one-shot lock. The servo settings focus on whoever you focus on and keep focused on it no matter the movement, as long as something doesn't get in the way of the object while shooting (in other words, if somebody put a hand in front of your lens during the action sequence, the focus would be all whacked).
... I'll start with the zero action ones.
