Any Canon A590 IS tips for action shots?

[Queasy]

Since getting a Canon A590 IS for Christmas, I've mostly taken still shots and mild action shots of my kids playing, etc. This past Saturday, I took about 80 pictures at a martial arts tournament and most of the action shots came out awful. These two are a couple of the best I took...and this is after running them through Photoshop's color and contrast adjustments.

Pic 1
Pic 2

I was fiddling around with the settings but couldn't get anything to come out the way I wanted so I stuck with (I think) the Kids & Pets preset for this.

I know I'm probably asking too much of this little camera but I'm not going to be upgrading to a SLR for a while. Are there any setting recommendations/tips for actions shots with the A590 IS?

Thanks

 

[PurdueRy]

Use higher iso and aperture priority mode. Force the camera to use the lower possible aperture and try not to use any zoom if possible as this will typically decrease the max aperture.

 

[scott916]

Action shots are best at 1/500, you can sometimes get away with 1/250. Use flash if possible, and crank the ISO up and open the aperture. You may have a noisy picture, but it will be sharp. Check out CHDK too, I believe you can use a better burst mode with that software.