WINSLOW – This time of year, it’s not unusual to hear a lot of activity and loud cheering at Sukee Arena.

Usually the sounds are coming from high school or youth league hockey games, but Saturday, the sheet of ice was covered with a mat and a green layer of AstroTurf. And rather than hockey jerseys, the participants in this competition were donned in Gis, the sash, belt, and pants which make up a traditional karate uniform.

Like the hockey, this was also a tournament: the Battle of Maine, Huard’s 26th annual Martial Arts Championships.

From 8:45 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., 580 competitors ranging in age from 4 to 70 did battle in events ranging from Chanbara (swordplay) to forms, fighting and weapons in various age groups and various fighting styles before it was all finished.

“We had people from all over the state and all over New England here,” said Mark Huard, tournament assistant director and an instructor at Huard’s Ju-Jitsu Karate Schools. “We find a lot more new faces at this event than any other we do or attend. A lot of people use this as their first tournament because it’s been around awhile.”

When Mark’s father Randy started the tourney in 1971, he had “maybe 10 or 12” competitors. Now it’s an institution.

“I think in general people just love the event,” Huard said. “We have a lot of repeats who are here year after year. It’s like a family get-together. We have lots of families and a lot of kids… a lot of kids.”

The Fields are one such family, with a lot of kids.

“I have five kids and four of them do karate,” said Heidi Field of Sidney. “Leigh is 12, Erin’s 10, Todd is 8, Riley’s 7, my son Tobin is a year and a half, and all of them do karate except Tobin, but he always comes and does all the moves while we’re training.”

Yes, we, as in mom, too. After years of trucking her kids back and forth from practices and watching training sessions and competitions, Heidi Field finally took up martial arts at the age of 38 and Saturday was her first competition.

“I finally decided to take classes last November. I like the challenge and at this stage in my life, it’s nice that I’m learning something new,” she explained. “I knew so much about it already, but the technical stuff was new to me and I have so much more respect for what they’re doing now.”

She also has bragging rights as she came away from her first event with a fourth-place finish in fighting.

Her oldest daughter couldn’t say the same thing, but the lack of any trophies this time around did nothing to lessen Leigh’s enthusiasm for her martial arts.

“It gives you confidence and makes you stronger mentally and physically. It makes me more determined and confident in other sports too,” said Leigh Field, who plays softball, basketball, and football and will start track and field this year. “It just does a lot of stuff. And you’re not going against necessarily another person, you’re basically going against yourself. I like that.”

It’s her daughter’s enthusiasm that makes Heidi Field such a martial arts fan.

“My kids are extremely self-confident and they’re not shy. They have a lot of self-discipline with schooling and behavior,” she explained. “One of my kids is high-strung and one was very shy, but neither has any problems and that’s because of doing this.”

Heidi and husband Lee encouraged Leigh to get involved in the first place because of the positive experience he got while taking karate as a youth. It didn’t take long for Heidi’s skepticism to go away.

“It’s almost like therapy for me. It’s great for exercise, too,” she said. “It’s a good family sport because it’s great to get support from each other. I wish I’d gotten into it sooner.”

That’s not something Chad Joseph has to say. The 26-year-old Winslow native started when he was 5.

Those 21 years of experience – 10 of which it took him to earn a black belt – were put to good use Saturday as he came away with four firsts, including two impressive eagle trophies won for grand championships in fighting and Kata.

Not bad for a rusty, out-of-practice black belt.

“I haven’t been to a class in four years and just joined a gym two weeks ago. That was my preparation for this,” he said with a laugh. “I hoped for a second or third and I managed four firsts. It was more prayer than preparation for me.”

Winslow native Julie Salvato, an 18-year-old college freshman, can relate to that.

Salvato has been actively involved in martial arts for 11 years, but college all but put a stop to her activity, until now.

“I’ve had four workouts and other than that, nothing since August in regard to karate,” said Salvato, a member of Huard’s Sports Karate Team. “I literally thought I’d get pelted today. I didn’t care what place I got as long as I didn’t get hurt.”

She not only avoided injury, she won two firsts in Kata and fighting. Salvato’s path to karate came through ballet.

“I was in ballet, but didn’t like it, so when my brother started doing [karate], I went over to martial arts,” she explained. “I like that it’s an individual sport. I’d done hockey and soccer and this was completely different. There’s a lot of respect you earn and you give to others that you can’t find anywhere else.”