The light meter may cause underexposures if you read off the bright reflections. Include typical subject matter in these exposures. Get close enough to the action so that you will not need to do much cropping while printing to produce a high impact image. Turn the camera to the vertical format position whenever you anticipate a vertical composition. Find camera angles for diagonal action lines in the compositions.
Diagonal lines activate the composition.
At 200mm the depth of field is only a few inches. Practice focusing slightly ahead of the action while you follow the action. While watching the game through the viewfinder you may discover certain types of action shot opportunities that repeat themselves. This allows you to focus on the distance that the action tends to occur and wait for the next opportunity. With a normal lens you will probably need to use a shutter speed of 125 or faster to eliminate blur.