An antidote to bullying

When Sydni Stocks was 8 years old, she chose to do something about the immense bullying she experienced.

Stocks, now 14, decided to pursue karate.

The sport taught her the skills she needed to become an advocate for others who have been tormented by their peers.

“When she was little, she was this sweet little kid,” her mother, Sandi, said. “But by being so sweet, what it said was ‘pick on me’ right on her forehead. When that would happen, I don’t think she had the gumption to stand up and say ‘this isn’t OK,’ and she definitely does now.”

Stocks said she wants to help others empower themselves and stand up for what they believe in.

“If they don’t feel something is right, just to speak out against it because that’s the only way you are ever going to get a change,” she said.

As a black belt national champion, two years running in the long weapons category, she’s excelling at her sport, which has taught her how to stick up for herself.

“Overall, I’m a much more confident person. I can speak my mind. I’m not as shy as I used to be, and I can defend myself,” Stocks said. “I don’t have to worry about someone harming me in any way, because I know I can handle myself. It’s also made me more independent.”

She has traveled across the world to compete in tournaments, taking second place at the World Union of Karate-Do Federations world karate championships in Scotland this year and making a solo trip to Hawaii for the international karate championships.

On Saturday, she’ll once again compete on the Big Island after she received an invitation to the international tournament.

“I’m super excited to go back to Hawaii,” Stocks said. “It was a great tournament, and overall the experience with the team was just amazing.”

Afterward, her schedule will remain busy as she wraps up her season with Frank Arnett’s Martial Arts America. She’ll compete at the Amateur Athletic Union Karate Nationals — where she picked up five medals this June — and plans to take part in the world championships in Slovakia.

Stocks is currently mulling whether she’ll train for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It’ll be the first time karate is included in the competition.

“She’s already hit her first goal,” her dad, Michael, said. “I asked her what she wanted to do with (karate) and she said she wanted to represent her country at the world championships or the Olympics. She’s already met the first one.”

One day, she’d like to possibly open her own karate school. Stocks also plans to pursue higher education, earning a degree in the medical sciences to one day become a physical therapist or a similar trade.

To help accommodate her training and tournaments, Stocks is a part-time student at Jenifer Junior High School and spends the other half of her schooling with the Idaho Virtual Academy, an online public school.

Once the new semester begins, toward the end of January, Stocks will switch to the online school full time on a trial basis. She’ll miss the face-to-face interaction she gets with her friends at Jenifer, but she said the online classes make it easier during her busy karate season.

The tournament in Hawaii later this month is her last go before she moves on to a different, more challenging age group.

“The nice thing is this is the last time she can kind of compete in the younger division,” Sandi said. “When she goes to nationals in the spring, it will be in the 15- and 17-year-old category, so she’s going to have a pretty daunting year ahead of her. This is like the last hoorah of being a kid, then she’s in that older, tougher group.”

But the thought of moving up hasn’t scared Stocks away from the sport she is passionately pursuing.

“It’s a little intimidating, but I just want to put my best foot forward and whatever happens, I’ll know I’ll have tried my best,” she said.

Tomtas may be contacted at jtomtas@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2294. Follow her on Twitter@jtomtas.