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Sandy
"The Shark" Yard, the newly IFBA World Featherweight
Champion of the world, is a fighter that WBAN has featured since last
year! She was listed as a "fighter on the
rise" and "The Shark" did not let WBAN down. On
November 23, 1999, Sandy defeated Chris Kreuz. (
in an exciting 10-round unanimous decision with scoring of 98-92, 97-94,
96-93.
Sandy grew up in
Absecon, New Jersey. She attended Pleasantville Senior High School in
Pleasantville, New Jersey and participated in many sports that included
softball,
basketball, cross country--not to mention playing on county traveling softball
teams! Sandy went onto college and graduated with a B.S. Degree in
Recreation Administration from Trenton State College in Trenton, New
Jersey. Even during her years in college she was a
varsity athlete
in basketball and lacrosse.
Sandy has always been a natural
athletic and even her early memories are thinking about the time when her
brother was going out for little league baseball and her father told her to put her hair
up under a hat and try out for the team. That was a time when girls
were
allowed to play on boys teams and there were no organized girls' softball teams available.
By the time Sandy entered
high school it was a different story. She ended up playing softball and made the
Varsity team in her Freshman year. She played all four years while in
high school and won many batting titles, all County, and all Southern Jersey player
awards.
Sandy had never played any other organized
sports. She was asked to try out for the basketball team. She made the junior
varsity team and began her basketball career. As a varsity player her
senior year
their team became New Jersey State Champions.
JUST PRIOR TO THE END
of Sandy's sophomore year her basketball coach suggested that she run cross
country in the fall to get in good shape for basketball. This was her
first
experience breaking into a men's sport. No girls at her school had ever run cross
country and there was not a girl's team. She had to run on the boys team and compete
against the boys. There were a few girls on some of the other teams trying to do the
same thing she was doing. She ran for times and conditioning and was pleased
to began her distance running.
It was a walk on at basketball tryouts at Trenton State
College for Sandy. She made the junior varsity team. During her Sophomore year she
was dressing for varsity games and starting to see some time in varsity games. She played
one more year of varsity basketball and then decided to concentrate on her other varsity
sport.
At the end of Sandy's
freshman basketball season
the lacrosse coach came to practice and was recruiting players to develop a lacrosse team.
The team was relatively new and the coach was asking for players with or without
experience. Sandra decided to give lacrosse a try.
Even though it was awkward for
Sandy learning a new
sport, She gave it all her effort. By her junior year she was playing on the varsity
squad. The team was considered to very good. They traveled to Penn State
to play for the National Title and they won. They were AIAW National
Champions. Women's sports were in the process of converting all women's
teams to the NCAA divisions, so Trenton State College took on the challenge the first
year. Sandy's senior year they again found ourselves in the National playoffs but
this time the team was up against universities with scholarship athletes.
The final
game was against the University of Massachusetts. They finished in second place
which they all felt was quite an accomplishment!
After Sandy graduated from college, the only
sports available were recreation softball leagues. Sandra
found a good
team and stayed with them for several years. She continued to run and lift weights because
it had become a normal part of her life.
When Sandy got married her
husband and she moved
quite often. The easiest thing for Sandy to do was go to the parks and gyms
and look for pickup basketball games. She found that the only games available were
men's games. But that did not stop Sandy, and she began playing basketball with
men. She had discovered long ago that the only way to be accepted by the guys was to
be extra tough, make less mistakes than they did and never call a foul even,
if you
got creamed. She really enjoyed playing basketball with the guys and it kept her
in
extremely good shape.
Taking a glance at this sleek, and athletic fighter, you
would never guess that she has three children--ages, 11, 9 and 7, two boys and a
girl! And JUST like mom, the all participate in sports.
As far as how
they feel about mom boxing--they love it. In Sandy's spare time, she still
has time to have coached all three of her children in soccer and baseball, and she
continues to coach one of her son's baseball this season.
Sandy continued to
run, lift weights, and play basketball before during and after all her pregnancies!
In addition to all of the sports
Sandy has participated
in, she spent two separate years training in two different types of karate.
Sandy
enjoyed karate very much but the areas where she was training did not have very much
competition for women. Because of her young children it was hard for her to
travel. She remained in good shape and trained hard as usual.
When she moved to Palm Desert, California, she was
running and lifting weights regularly. She found a good group of guys to play basketball
with and was having fun. She also devoted and still do devoted much of her time to
coaching youth sports.
Her husband and she have been boxing fans since she met
her husband twelve years ago. Slowly they began to see more and more women on
the boxing cards. Sandy teased a couple times about taking up boxing,
but
never followed through. Sandy said that when Christy Martin broke on to
the scene things really started rolling and she became seriously interested.
Sandy needed her husband's support and they talked
about it. He agreed to see how it would go. Sandra looked for the best
trainer in the area, which was Lee Espinoza. Lee and the Coachella Boxing Club produce
Champions. So, Sandy met Lee and they agreed to see what she had.
He did not want to waste her time and she did not want to waste his
time. He told Sandy that he would know in a week if it would
be worth continuing heavy training. Since that time, Sandy has
fought some of the best, that included Deborah Nichols, Kathy Long,
Chris Kreuz.
ON 04/26/00, in Kenner, Louisiana, Yard
defended her IFBA Featherweight championship belt
against Beverly Szymanski
and won by a KO in the eight round. But,
controversy is already surrounding this fight.
Szymanski is protesting the outcome of this fight,
according to inside sources. Wissow reported the
following: "A good fight. Yard tried to
keep the fight on the outside, while Szymanski was
coming forward trying to make it a phone booth war.
Yard used her height and reach advantages to her
benefit in out boxing Szymanski for most of the
rounds, while Szymanski also managed to land some good
punches as she was pressing the fight. Then in the 8th
round, Yard unleashed a barrage of power punches that
shook Szymanski, as Szymanski's back was on the ropes,
and Yard got her in a corner to throw more
punches. Szymanski tried to clinch Yard, and a
fraction of a second after the ref yelled break [he
was just about to physically separate the fighters]
Yard used her unclenched arm, her left, to drill
Szymanski with a left hook. Szymanski was counted
out. The commentators were wondering if Yard was
in the wrong for hitting Szymanski after the ref
yelled break, but the ref hadn't yet actually stepped
between the two fighters when the punch landed.
Big KO win for Yard."
Yard is now 10-2-2, Szymanski
dropped to 9-6.
On July 22, 2000, at
the Sky Ute Casino and Lodge, in Ignacio, Colorado,
Yard retained her IFBA Featherweight Champion belt
(126 lbs) when she defeated Rolanda Andrews
in a 10-round unanimous decision. Yard moved to
11-2-2.
On August 26, 2000, in
Reno, Nevada, Yard suffered a setback when she
lost to Jo Jo Wyman in a six-round unanimous decision.
She is now 11-2-3.
On October 7, 2000
in Colorado, Layla McCarter became the new IFBA Featherweight Champion with an unanimous decision over
Yard. The judges scored the fight 100-90, 99-91 and 97-93 for Mc Carter.
In November of 2000, Sandy
Yard retired from boxing.
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