Need advice for high speed lens for Nikon D5000

[aced3368]

Hello all - I am a middle school teacher and I shoot most all of the middle and high school football games and some softball and baseball. I do it mostly to share the photos with "my kids", many of whom otherwise wouldn't have any photos. We have some great kids, but many who are from high poverty neighborhoods. They have come to expect and really appreciate my shooting their games. I have a Nikon D5000 that I love, but the 70-200mm lens that I have is not getting the job done in low light and high speed situations. I know I need an f2.8 lens that will reach across the football field and work with night shooting and high speed action. I do shoot manual, but I have done all I know to do to get the most out of my current equipment. I have so many shots that would be great, but they are too blurry to see who the player is. I do not have money in the budget for a new lens, but I am willing to do what I can to try to get one. I have looked at the Tamron lenses and they seem to be pretty good for the money. I don't have to have the best name brand, but I do need one that will last me a while. I don't want to spend the money and then figure out that I needed something else in a lens. Whatever I do buy will have to do me a while, as it will take a while for me to pay for it! LOL. Please advise me if you have suggestions, and I am not terribly technically minded - I'm one of the photographers that falls way more on the creative side of things than technical. I'm still working on that. Thanks in advance.

 

[480sparky43 42]

Nikkor 300/2.8
Nikkor 400/2.8

 

[coastalconn]

Could you post some samples of the bad ones with exif included? Maybe we can help with better settings.. What are your shutter speeds? Are you bumping your ISO up? If you need reach and a fast lens you need big $..