Here's my contribution.
I'm a keen amateur but sometimes take on event work from time to time.
This is from a charity amateur boxing gig 2 weeks ago. I've tried to pick a photo in which the people are only just recognisable.
(I retain the copyright to the images but UWCB has distribution privileges).
I shoot wildlife, sports, family, and in the studio but I do enjoy capturing split-second moments that you can't repeat. For this, the kit has to respond well to any changing situation.
Date info: DateTimeOriginal - 2022:07:09 16:57:21
EXIF: 1/400s, f/2.2, ISO 2500
Kit used: The kit I use for close-up sports has always been Canon and fast glass through long-term habit.
My current kit (which spends some time upside down as you can see) is a Canon R5, RF 35mm f/1,8, plus a spider pro holster/plate
Why this kit: I used to shoot regularly with my lovely 5Diii. The R5 has a few advantages. Speed, silent mode when needed, cRAW which means that I can shoot all night and keep the full raw information to sort out white balance issues. The LED lights used now in events like this are awful for ruining a shot. WiFi pairing so that I can send off shots quickly via my phone when I spot a good one on the night. However, completely different settings are needed for flash photography, such as the Exposure simulation and ensuring that you have the mechanical shutter active. The high-speed fps of the R5 doesn't really help as if I shoot at such speed, then it will take 4x longer to process the night's images.
Handheld or tripod: only one option here!!!!
Settings: I used these settings as I shoot in auto ISO, but cap it to stop right light highlights from burning out when the metering can't cope. Thinking about the inverse square law, the lighting can change hugely as the boxers move across the ring.
I shoot in manual mode, so that I can balance the shutter speed with the aperture to maintain some greater depth of field. I could just shoot at f/2.8 with a good zoom, but I sometimes like to open the aperture more because of challenging lighting.
I use a shutter speed of 1/400s typically rising to 1/600s for the faster amateur athletes. I gauge how fast the boxers are in the first exchanges and up the ante as required.
For faster semi-pro boxers I will often raise this again to 1/800s if needed but I hope to keep the ISO to 3200 or 6400 at the most.
Processing: I often come out with 800-1500 images from a night's event, so I use Lightroom in my workflow. I've tried alternates but LRc seems to get things done in a way that I like.
The R6 is arguably better for this shot, but I like having the extra pixels so that I can crop in heavily when needed instead of zooming in and out with "slower" glass.
Also on here is a godox unit which I use to trigger some fill light for entrance walk-on shots.
Also for this even I used an on-camera flash for presentation shots, and a 17-40L when everyone climbs into the ring for a team photo!