I regarded Alan's suggestion as good and put it into practice tonight in a women's soccer matchup. I had some limited fashion of success. All images were taken at 1/15 of a second in the second half of the game.
I'm going to alter my typical request and specifically ask for a critical eye. What do you think doesn't work here? I haven't spent much time practicing this, and I would love to hear where you feel they fall short of the entirely subjective bar you have in your mind.
I too am drawn to #2 Matthew, the movement blur fully capturing the bodies in motion.
I think many show promise but personally feel they may be hampered by the stark lighting and contrast. Even longer exposures may have worked for some, abstracting the bodies even further and highlighting the faster motion.
You could try playing about with these, here's one quick example just using Windows 11 just as a comparison (I think B&W conversion allows more options).
Good work on these, I hope you feel you achieved something from your efforts and are keen to experiment further.