Local Roller-Skating Star To Seek National Title; Has Already Won State Crown

LOCAL ROLLER-SKATING STAR TO SEEK NATIONAL TITLE; HAS ALREADY WON STATE CROWN

The rumble of the rollers is bound to become increasingly loud in the world of sports.

That’s the opinion of Ann Arbor’s newly-crowned state senior women’s champion roller skater, Miss Irma Barnard, a right comely lass who is so wrapped up in her favorite sport that “she’ll talk about it by the hour if you’ll let me.”

Right now, Miss Barnard, another Ann Arbor product, 21-year-old Dean Bush, and their partners, both from Plymouth, Mickey Brown and Joann Tait, are practicing from three to six hour a day in preparation for competition in the national championships at Washington, D. C., June 28-July 2. There’s a reason to believe the foursome may do all right in the nation’s capital, too.

Miss Barnard, as previously mentioned, Sunday won the state title at Muskegon. Bush placed second in the men’s novice division and he and Miss Tait won the state novice mixed pairs championship. Miss Barnard and Brown are rated among the nation’s best as a doubles combination.

Lots Of Practice

Personal ambition and hopes of seeing her sport continue to improve its rating in the public eye are mixed emotions in Miss Barnard’s breast. As the main challenger to three-time national senior ladies’ singles champion Miss June Hendrich, Mineola, N. Y., Miss Barnard is practicing four hours per day and sleeping 10 hours per night in preparation for the effort that may bring her a national crown. In between she works at her job of tinting photographs and thinks about roller skating. “There’s no time for romance,” she grins.

Good In Ice, Too

Ann Arbor sports followers who know of Miss Barnards proficiency on rollers have, in many cases, seen her perform only on ice skates. Like many other top-notch roller-skaters, she’s also handy on the winter blades and has given exhibitions during Michigan hockey game intermissions along with her partner, Brown.

There’s not as much difference between handling oneself on rollers and blades, the dark-haired girl explains. The same muscles are in use and much of the technique is the same. She considers it easier to spin on skates and easier to jump with the rollers. The skates are, perhaps, a bit less tiring since they weigh only two pounds each to four pounds each for the rollers.

Roller-skating is becoming more and more of a recognized world sport, Miss Barnard says. A world federation has been organized and plans are now under way for running a world meet at Lisbon, Portugal, in 1949. It is probable that a roller exhibition will be part of this summer’s Olympic Games program in London and the roller enthusiasts are launching a drive to make the sport a recognized portion of the Olympic Games when they are held in the United States in 1952.

Those things are in the future and the Nationals come first. So Miss Barnard, Miss Tait, Bush and Brown are working plenty at Plymouth’s Riverside Rink these days getting set for the big test next month. They sense the chance of a boat trip or two in the not-too-distant future.