Here's my experience for what it's worth... most consumer digital cameras aren't going to be much good for consistantly catching action shots. Their shot to shot speed leaves a lot to be desired and they have relatively small memory buffers. If you really want to catch it all from the first spurt to last drip use a video cam or set your digicam to movie mode. You won't get high res stills from the vid mode but you'll at least get the whole event recorded for posterity. Investing in a tripod is a huge help and it's hard to stress how important it is to have lots of light. The faster the shutter is going (sports mode for instance) the more light is needed to adequately illuminate your subject for the brief instant that the shutter is open.

Ultimately there's really no substitute for practice, so get your camera, get your gal and get busy