only sport I shoot is soccer ...as said before...
f/2.8 at night. you need all the light you can get to attain fast shutterspeeds. aim for 1/1000s as a bare minimum when player is on the ball. bump the ISO if you have to. when using film , I use to underexpose to help increase shutterspeeds - then push process it afterwards. looking at your kit though - speed isn't an issue.
f/3.5 by day. player sits nicely in depth of field. everything else it out of focus.
I favour centre weighted metering (especially at night). prevents the camera trying to meter the dark background. spot metering is a little too accurate - you only need to spot meter the shine on a shirt from the floodlights and the exposure is up the spout.
also...use AI servo because everyone is moving around
but most of all (and I say this because it rarely seems to happen)....compose the shot. essentially, it's an environmental portrait.