soccermom,

Welcome to the exciting world of video editing -- relax, take it a step at a time, and remember that MEP is a 'non-destructive' editor. No amount of cutting, deleting, re-ordering, adjusting or whatever within the program will alter your original camera files. That said it's a wise precaution to have backup copies -- it's just plain good housekeeping!

I've never done a proper sports tape but assume you want to select a representative and flattering collection of shots and cut out the rest including, if like I do, the bits where I had the camera running while I bought my hotdog and beer. :-) Working in 'timeline' mode you simply move the play cursor (vertical line with triangle top) and hit the [T] key to make a cut. Repeat at a second position and then you can select the mid section by clicking on it and remove it with the [Delete] key. If you use [Ctrl + Delete] the gap is closed as well. If you change you mind you can undo with the windows standard [Ctrl + Z] or, because the cut is 'non-destructive' do a click drag on an end to restore what was cut off.

I'd not worry about fancy transitions between shots but you'd probably want to add captions to identify the games. The simplest is to go to the 'Title' tab, pick one of the presets and drag it where you want on the timeline -- on a track below your video & audio. You can then edit as you wish.

I'm way too brief I know, but I'm sure you will learn by doing! When you first start the program you will be given the opportunity to view a demo video. The help files are unfortunately generally regarded as being not the best ever written. One of the other Magix sites has a list of tutorials written by users:

http://support.magix.net/boards/magix/index.php?showtopic=47133

Regards,

Carl