After trying to gather enough people to have some friendly foam weapon combat sparring, I've decided to instead attend the local Darkon practice sessions. People actually show up to those. The family and I went Sunady, though Violet and Drake just watched as I got my ass handed to me more often than not. I'm slightly out of shape and a tiny bit rusty it appears. I did well enough for my first time though, and I was fighting opponents who have been doing this for over a decade. Besides being out of shape and out of practice, the weapons they use are slightly different (more painful, I actually got 2 bruises) and their techniques are much more agressive (light taps are discouraged). Most of the time I was fighting agaisnt experts with spears or huge body shields.
I had to borrow their weapons since mine weren't compatible with their system. My usual techniques of sword and dagger didn't help me too much agasinst these kinds of adversaries. The majority of time was quick friendly bouts with me and one guy (who happened to be the King of the country(aka group) whose practice I was attending versus two other guys. I lost a lot, but once I got rid of the dagger and switched to sword+axe or a sword+ shield, we won the vast majority of the time.
I liked it overall. we were on a rocky trail and my feet hurt due to my poor choice of shoes. I need to get some better shoes... these light slip ons ones don't work well for long walks or for sparring. Another bonus is that they practice every 2 weeks and then on off weeks they usually have a actual game. I'm not too keen on the actual game events per se(I'm not sure I care for their ruleset and game mechanics), but I think I'll attend a few more practices at least. That's what I was looking for anyway.