Originally Posted by about5foot6
In general, f/4 is going to be very marginal for indoor sports - especially at the non-pro level, those venues tend to be very poorly lit. However, the 70-200 f/4L would be a very versatile lens for outdoor sports. Indoors, you'll want to be looking at f/2.8 or faster. Also, the longer the better, in most cases, unless you can be assured of being very close to the action.
The 135mm focal length would be good for sports on your 1.6x crop body - but I'd avoid the 135mm mm f/2.8 SoftFocus as it's one of the oldest lens designs still available. The 135 f/2L is a really excellent lens - the best for indoor sports (short of the 200mm f/2L), but well over your budget.
In your case, I would recommend either the 85mm f/1.8 or it's close cousin the EF 100mm f/2 - you'll need to crop in many cases, but you'll have a shutter speed fast enough to stop the motion of your subject (which was the problem you were having with the cheerleading shots, I presume).
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