WINSLOW – Kids. Hundreds of them on the Sukee Arena floor. There were kids stretching, kids kicking and kids yelling. Up in the stands were several hundred grownups watching all of the stretching, kicking and yelling.

In its 21st year, the Battle of Maine Martial Arts Championship has grown into an event that draws a crowd. Sponsored by Huard’s Ju-Jitsu and Karate School in Winslow, Saturday’s event had more than 500 competitors. The large majority were kids.

The uniform of the day was a tobuk, or “gi” as it’s more commonly called. Each martial arts school, or “dojo,” has its own design and color for the gi and there were more than a dozen schools represented at the tournament.

But it’s not the color of the gi that is important, it is the color of the belt wrapped around the waist of the competitor. The color of the belt means different things to different people. In some cases it determines status. To others the color of the belt is a goal to be reached.

Color is all in the eye of the beholder.

John James is a 9-year-old fourth-grader from Newport who wears a green belt and has been at this for four years. Oh yeah, and he’s good.

He competed in the intermediate division for his age group and he followed a second-place finish in the forms competition by winning the point fighting phase.

While many of the fighters in his age group are one-dimensional with primarily a one-kick attack, James can take it a step farther, by following a leg kick with multiple punches. James is also strong defensively, blocking most of the kicks or punches that come his way.

“He is just a natural athlete,” James’ father Tim said. “He’s done really well. He goes to national events. He was state of Maine champion last year and also a champion out of the New England Karate Commission.”

But even the best can take some punishment in this sport. At the beginning of his championship match with Kevin Funston of Portland, James took a accidental kick to the chin that sent him on his back, where he laid stunned for several moments.

In point fighting, blows to the head are illegal and James was awarded a penalty point and went on to a 3-1 win.

“The belts, they’re real important,” James said. “Because my future is to get a black belt and teach karate. It would mean a lot. That I’ve worked hard.”

Everyone in the sport gets involved for a different reason.

Sitting in the packed stands waiting for their matches was a threesome from Clark’s Tae Kwon Do in Bangor. Julianna Howell of Holden is a self-professed 13-year old tomboy. She would go on to third-place finishes in both forms and fighting.

“It’s fun for me. I love it and self-defense is also a big part of it”

Sitting with Howell are brothers James and Ryan Bailey of Bangor.

James is 13 and is perhaps one month away from a black belt.

“I started when I was 6 or 7 because my mother wanted me to. It was a good idea. It has given me a lot of self confidence,” he said.

He said he will test for a black belt at the end of April.

“The test is about three to four hours long. I’ll do more than 1,000 push ups.”

His 10-year old brother Ryan says he didn’t get his start in martial arts to follow in his brothers’ footsteps.

“That was one of the reasons I didn’t want to do it,” he joked. “I started because when I was 6 or 7 my mother wanted me to do tae kwon do or gymnastics and I didn’t want to do gymnastics. But this has been good for me.”

One of the highlights of the event came early in the day when the senior black belt division competed in musical forms.

Lawrence High School senior Shane Gallagher put on an intense performance that rocked the arena. In the end his score tied him with master black belt Bobby “Tokyo Joe” Lamatina of Nashua, N.H. Lamatina was declared the winner in a judges’ decision.

Gallagher is 17 and represented Huard’s dojo. He said he didn’t enter martial arts training to earn a black belt. He got his start about 10 years ago and for a very simple reason.

“A kid beat me up on the last day of school and my parents put me in karate for self-defense.”

Once involved he found it be fun and set a goal to earn a black belt and become a teacher. As he spoke a group of small boys, all wearing the black gi of the Huard school approached. Each bowed and while their words of congratulations were different, one word was repeated by each of them.

“Sensei,” they called him.

Teacher.

Goal achieved.