Canon lens-indoor sports

I have a Canon XTI. I need a lens to shoot basketball and volleyball in a high school gym. I know Canon has a 85mm f1.8, a 100mm f2.0 and the series L 135mm f2.0. I wonder if the 135 is too long in a gym and I won't find it useful for anything else. what do you suggest?

Well, it's probably overkill unless you're very serious and planning to do LOTS of indoor sports shooting in the future, but an amazing lens in the (now-discontinued) EF 200mm f/1.8. To see what others have done with it, I suggest you Google it on line, but be aware that you'll probably have to pay $3500+ for a good example.

I used to shoot sports for my school paper and did quite a few gym shots. If you were using 35mm you would only want the longer lens. You will need the F2.0 as a minimum. The 100 will give you a little more flexibility in composition, meaning it will give you more to crop out afterwards than the 135 when you want the closeup contained in a field of arms and bodies. The 135 will make you work harder, since you will need more precision in aiming. (not to mention that it is a bit heavier)