First part of the video
Speaker (you see Sonja Henie skating because they are talking about Schäfer and Henie before in a part of the documentation that has not been saved):
Karl Schäfer is still interested in Austrian figure skating tradition, chatting with Dr. Eva Pawlik about Trixi Schuba´s training in compulsory figures.
(recorded in 1972)
Karl Schäfer:
She (Trixi) is beginning slowly but does not lose any drive. On the contrary: She even gets faster. It´s whopping, isn´t it?
Eva Pawlik:
Trixi is extremely talented in figures. Have you seen her free skating this year?
Karl Schäfer:
Yes, she has become better.
Eva Pawlik:
Yes, I think so, too. She will skate to a new music, they made a new skirt for her.
Karl Schäfer:
And a new haircut. Everything is well prepared for Sapporo.
Eva Pawlik:
What do you think will be in Sapporo?
Karl Schäfer:
I think she will do it. Her competitors have not improved their abilities in compulsory figures and Trixi has not become worse in the free skating.
Second part of the video
(recorded in 1971 before the 1971 Worlds)
Eva Pawlik:
Trixi Schuba shows us one of the school figures in which Trixi excels. The television viewer, however, has hardly any chance to watch the figures as normally only the free programs are broadcast. So we want to give you the opportunity today to get a feeling of how great Trixi’s abilities are in that field. In this figure the circles are performed six times because it is a double figure that is started one time from the inside edge and another time from the outside egde. To compare it with other figures: Rocker and counter are only performed three times.
Now the figure is started the second time, pay attention to the very beginning precisely on the edge, she is doing her first bracket, beautifully turned. Trixi´s body tension is great which is highly important. In case of a lack of body tension she would produce wobbles after the bracket. Trixi does not do so but perfectly controls her moves. She is extremely unagitated, her changeovers are very quick. The quicker the changeovers the better because the circles get perfectly round that way. - - - All the turns in a figure should be lined up with the central axis, the turns should be symmetrical in shape and executed on true edges. The circles should be round. - - - I don´t know if you can see that now: The bracket should be precisely on top of the three turn. Trixi’s circles are perfectly round. - - - Trixi, would you be so kind as to show to the spectators once again how you make a turn, how you change from hip to shoulder.
Trixi Schuba:
As you have already mentioned you need a lot of body tension. Standing on the right foot, the right shoulder is in front. The other foot is slightly crossbred. Before the three-turn the body tension is once again extremely important. And after it you should have the body tension again. That´s the way it should work.
Eva Pawlik:
Would you once again show that to the spectators?
Trixi Schuba:
Of course.
Eva Pawlik:
Wonderful. Perhaps one could show that bracket again in a close-up. You see the turn precisely done. No ‚skid‘, no double mark/track/trace.
Trixi Schuba:
Everything is round.
Eva Pawlik (while Austrian Vice Champion Sonja Balun performs her figures):
Now you see the big difference. It goes without saying that young Sonja Balun cannot be as perfect as Trixi. First of all, she is younger. In addition to that, she does not have the long experience of our multiple Austrian Champion and reigning European Champion Trixi. Her arms are too high so she cannot perform her figures as faultlessly as Trixi. You can perhaps imagine now how difficult school figures are. You do not learn them within two or three years. It takes you seven or eight years or perhaps ten years to be on top of Europe or on top of the world.
Eva Pawlik (asking Trixi):
What are your chances at the Worlds?
Trixi Schuba:
My chances are rather good as I finished 2nd last year and Gaby (Seyfert) – thank goodness! - has retired from amateur skating. I hope to be excellent in figures again and not to make mistakes in the free. If so, I will do it.
Eva Pawlik:
Which of your competitors are most dangerous?
Trixi Schuba:
July Holmes, Janet Lynn and Karen Magnussen from America.
Eva Pawlik:
Janet Lynn is an extremely fascinating free skater. Have you learned something about the development of her skills in compulsory figures?
Trixi Schuba:
No. But as Janet was rather weak in figures last year I suppose she will not have improved her figures in a way that could endanger my leading position in figures.
Eva Pawlik:
Let us talk a bit about Zurich (where the 1971 Europeans had taken place). Why was your free program not so good? (Trixi could not land her double Axel)
Trixi Schuba:
That was a bad luck. I did not have enough time to practise my double Axel with the music and was uncertain whether I could do it or not. I wanted to show I was able to land it. However, I failed to perform the double Axel in the end.
Eva Pawlik:
What about your double Axel now?
Trixi Schuba:
Now I am able to do it.
Eva Pawlik:
May we ask you to show us part of your free program? Including the double Axel?
Trixi Schuba:
Of course.
Third part of the video:
Kurt Jeschko (Austrian journalist):
We have invited a lady and two gentlemen being able to say something about compulsory figures. These former skaters were also very good in school figures. Dr. Eva Pawlik, Dr. Fritz Kachler and Olympic and World Champion Karl Schäfer. Department head Fritz Kachler (he had been an employee of an Austrian Ministry in a high position) did not only manage the paragraphs of a law but also on the ice (‚paragraph‘ is a word used by lawyers to determine part of a low and also used for certain figures in German). What was your impetus to learn figures?
Fritz Kachler:
There were many skaters preparing themselves for skating Championships in the tradition of Eduard Engelmann. I heard Mr. Engelmann telling other skaters I was a boy that could also learn to skate. So I was motivated to take up skating - systematically and in a certain sense also desperately.
Kurt Jeschko:
Were the school figures your duty or joy?
Fritz Kachler:
Later it was joy as I improved my skills. If someone only does his figures because he has to, however, it can be no joy for him.
Kurt Jeschko:
I want to add that Mr. Kachler was a multiple World Champion and a world class figure skater for many years. Can you imagine where you won your first World title?
Fritz Kachler:
In Manchester (1912).
Kurt Jeschko:
Where was your dominating strength: in the compulsory figures or in the free program?
Fritz Kachler:
At the Worlds in Vienna, I think it was one year after my first World title, I got the maximum of points both in figures and the free.
Kurt Jeschko:
Do you think the value of figures should be reduced as internationally discussed at the moment?
Fritz Kachler:
No. The judging would be more difficult. If every skater shows the same figures it is easier for a judge to compare the performances than in case every skater performs a different (free) program.
Kurt Jeschko:
Why do you think that some people want to abolish the figures?
Fritz Kachler:
Only for financial reasons.
Kurt Jeschko:
Miss Pawlik, what is your opinion? You have performed excellent figures when you were in the amateur rinks, so you will have liked figures in principle. Do you think one should abolish figures or reduce their value?
Eva Pawlik:
One should think about reducing the value of figures. But I am not in favour of totally abolishing figures. For to a certain extent, figures still are a skater’s technical basis. However, you have to relativise this opinion facing Sonja Morgenstern’s great free skate despite her weakness in figures. So I am in favour of reducing the value of the figures. Abolishing them, however, would be the wrong way.
Kurt Jeschko:
So figures are the basis important for every skater. Did you like figures?
Eva Pawlik:
When I was a child, absolutely not. But later, when I reached an age of 14 or 15 I was aware that I could not be successful without figures. When I became better in figures I even felt some joy about performing them. I won one European Championship in figures which was astounding as I was said to be weak in figures. Nevertheless, I was placed first in figures before Jeanette Altwegg (who excelled in figures at the time as Trixi Schuba did decades later). So I won this European Championships both in figures and in the free skating. My heart, however, was always dedicated to the free program.
Kurt Jeschko (asking Karl Schäfer):
How often did you win the Worlds?
Karl Schäfer:
Seven times.
Kurt Jeschko:
Did you like the compulsory figures?
Karl Schäfer:
In the very beginning I did not. But when I became better in figures, when I invented a new technique to make things easier for me, I began to love them.
Kurt Jeschko:
Did you get high marks for your figures?
Karl Schäfer:
At one European Championship I even got a 6.0 for one figure.
Kurt Jeschko:
That is unbelievable as Trixi Schuba got lower marks for her figures.
Karl Schäfer:
She should have got a 8.0, as my „Doppeldreierparagraf“ was not even a circle but an ellipsis.
Kurt Jeschko:
Perhaps the judges estimated the special thing about an ellipsis. Isn´t it more difficult than a circle?
Karl Schäfer:
No, it is easier as the skater has more time.
Kurt Jeschko:
Do you think that financial interests are the reason why some people want to abolish figures?
Karl Schäfer:
Yes, I think so.
Kurt Jeschko:
You must take into account that the TV spectators can only see part of a competition, so their opinion only refers to the free program.
Karl Schäfer:
You must also take into account that not only the marks for the free program but also the marks for the figures can be manipulated.
Kurt Jeschko:
Isn´t there the chance to recheck the marks for the compulsory figures by an independent specialist?
Karl Schäfer:
The judge has the power to decide who wins.
Kurt Jeschko:
Do you think that a new judging system would be necessary also as far as the marks for the figures are concerned.
Karl Schäfer:
Yes, one should think about that.
Kurt Jeschko:
Haven´t you proposed something new?
Karl Schäfer:
In my opinion one should award three titles, one in figures, one in the free program and one in the combination of both.
Kurt Jeschko (asking Eva Pawlik):
What will the new scoring system be like?
Eva Pawlik:
From the next season on (from 1973 on), the value of figures will be 40 percent, the value of the ‚compulsory free‘ program 20 percent and the value of the free 40 percent. In my opinion the value of the free program will be 60 percent because the ‚compulsory free‘ program that has already been introduced into the pairs‘ event is a sort of short free program. So the value of the short program and the value of the free program should be added when analyzing the proportion between compulsory figures and the free skate in the future.
Kurt Jeschko:
We would also have been interested in the opinion of the „Österreichischer Eislaufverband“ about compulsory figures but the representatives of this organization unfortunately did not have time. Nevertheless, it was interesting what famous figure skaters had to say about this issue.[\QUOTE]