Settings for a 70-200 f/2.8?

I have a tamron 70-200 f/2.8 and I'm using it with a Nikon d300. I just got this lens so I'm not really sure what settings I should have my camera on. I'm shooting sports, what settings should I have my camera on?

Shoot with the lens aperture wide open with your shutter speed at 1/640th second or faster. You may need to increase the ISO to do that.

Be sure to set your white balance to match the lighting of the event.

I shoot RAW, so use an Xrite Colorchecker Passport to establish a custom white balance for each game

Whatever works in the situation. Every situation is different every shoot has different problems.

The 70-200 F2, 8 is a good lens and will aid you well. Be it in sports, bird watching or anything else needing set range.

There's no "perfect" setting for a lens, there's a situation of what you want to make a picture and you as photographer have to find the settings that work the best for that. It is YOU who has to decide WHAT kind of results you desire. And SET the CAMERA to such.

In short there's no perfect.

10% image quality is the body, 20% is the lens and 70% is the ability of the photographer to make a good composition and know their camera.

With new toys I can suggest something simple, use it allot so you learn the strengths and weaknesses and of course the uses.

And for sports? The Tamron should be sharp enough at F2, 8 to give you a nice shallow dept of field and short exposure speeds, that is if you play with the ISO. Don't worry ISO 1600 is still very usable on modern DSLR's