Agree...Fran, you're doing fine! AFA VR...I don't use it unless I'm shooting a portrait or still(ish) subject. Have a few pro friends who recommended this protocol back when I was learning, then I left it on during an entire Saturday of pageantry (8,000 shots or better...) and really learned the lesson. Burned out the motor in my 70-200 VII! I'm sure that the casual user wouldn't run into that problem, but the point of VR is to help eliminate camera shake, and when you are shooting sports and striving for as much shutter as you can get, VR becomes superfluous...

Amazing decisive moment Ben's nana... The beauty and enchantment of still photography is it's ability to yield a window into a magical world unseen by the naked eye... a moment in time frozen for one to behold all it's grandeur... Thank you for sharing your shooting data here, wish others would do same...

As for Focus Tracking Delay? I shoot lots and lots of sports at the league level... and ballet at the commercial level... I've tried a myriad of focusing options and have discovered much depends on the optics focusing speed rather than the venue and/or subject... And thus I take a rather strong acceptation to Steve Perry's advice to turn off Focus Tracking with Lock-on... Steve obviously is not a commercial sports shooter, period!

His claim to provide "... all the critical information you need to know for Nikon's AF system..." is serious pontification albeit Steve and I are are the same page for many other parameters he addresses... The issue with using Focus Tracking Delay comes from the fact that not all optics are created equal... A lens' ability to shift it's optics into focus can be and is agonizing slow on some of the very best Nikkors available... for instance the excellent AF 200mm f/4 IF ED micro Nikkor who's focus through is extremely long... it has to be since this a commercial grade macro lens and an industry standard... For this lens Focus Tracking Delay would be a bad joke... and no sports shooters would ever consider using this razor sharp optic... Acuity is not the parameter that should drive lens selection especially when so many other variables on in the mix...

How does this play into the mix for shooting sports? Case in point is the wonderfully cost effective AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E VR which sadly is crippled with at best "mediocre" (I'm being politically correct here) focus speed... I no longer use this long zoom for Sports and stay with my AF-S 200-400mm f/4 IF ED VR which locks focus blindingly fast! Nearly instantaneous! and tracks flawlessly... Here I deploy Focus Tracking with a rather long interval... as shown below. Focus Tracking with Lock-on is an amazingly marvelous feature that Nikon has provided and has long empowered sports shooters who have taken the time/effort to master it...

As for Back Button focusing? It is the rule rather than the exception at the commercial level... Only one superb commercial shooter I'm aware of (Nikon Ambassador Moose Peterson) clearly states that he does not use it... Moose mentioned that his muscle memory is so ingrained after decades of shooting that he simply can't transition to BBF... Here Steve Perry and I are definitely on the same page... Steve Perry is gifted in wildlife imagery and a true master of the aforementioned... And I'm humbled with his ability to capture wildlife, enough said.

Hope this helps others here trying to sort all this out... but please keep in mind there are no best "solutions" and every kit is different... What works for one shooter may be a total disaster for another... One thing however that is absolute, those who pay the bills with a camera at a professional level in sporting events choose their optics very carefully... it likely is the lens that makes the difference in sports (In my humble estimation).

Thanks to all for sharing... and please let's see some more of your actual sports imagery, k?

Easy answer, Group Auto Focus, (Gr P )and use the center focusing spot. Nikon will then put four spots around this one and you will have 5 spots of focusing in the center of the screen. As long as your subject is on of the five spots, your subject will be in sharp focus. I use this on BIF and my keep rate is at 95-98% now. When you look through the viewfinder you will only see four spots, not five, the fifth one is not shown. You will love this system and it is not found on all Nikon's, only the good ones like yours. And of course continuous auto focus and center weighted metering also helps. And you should shoot at least at 1/1600 sec. and a couple of stops down on your lens.

Fran...Steve Perry's video that was referenced in a previous post gives a visual explanation of the focus delay. In your camera menu; Go to A3 and you will see Focus tracking with Lock-On. From here you can set a delay for how long the camera will hold focus in the event that another object/person cuts between you and the subject. Keep in mind that it could be any object, so splashing water in front of a swimmer could very easily cause the camera to miss focus on the athlete. I use this feature at all times and I find it very helpful.

Larry