Getting started!

[Iuri Sá Earp]

Hello to all!
I am really excited on starting my training at Medieval and Renaissance Marcial Arts(my areas of biggest interest right now are Long Sword and Rapier), as of now I am waiting for the responce of the ARMA director councerning my acceptance within ARMA, until then I would like to introduce myself to you guys:

My name is Iuri Sá Earp, but you can call me Sá Earp, I am 19 years old and I live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; councerning Martial Arts, I am a practicioneer of Kenjutsu, I have practiced both Kung Fu Pak Tong Long Phai and Budo Taijutsu(from the Bujinkan school) as well as I have had some experince in Sport Fencing(sword) during some time in my adolescence but now I am solely practicing Kenjutsu(and soon WMA I hope!) ;I am still studying the English language so sorry if I miss anything.

Now to the reason of my post(besides introducing myself), since I am the only person that I know of who has the interest on practicing WMA nearby my place(besides my brother, but he is 17, hence he can not start training yet, even if he was willing to) I would like to ask if in any way it is possible to evolve yourself in the usage of the Long Sword and Rapier by training alone;if yes, to which level?If not, do you have any enlightening ideas for this issue?

A few more questions:

How would I get the materials for my training?Such as: wooden weapons; padded weapons(in case I find someone to spar with); sparring harness; steel weapons(for practicing alone); ARMA uniform...
I really have no idea on how to get any of those and to tell the truth how to import neither(I am nineeen so it is still kind of troublesome to me to handle those things), so I was pondering if having a set of those been custom made would be viable?If yes, where could I get the measures from?

That is all for now.
Until then!

Sá Earp

[Sal Bertucci]

Greetings and welcome.

Fala ingles bien. I'm no expert, since I've just started myself, but I'll say what I can and will be corrected by the more knowledgeable later. Firstly, the main thing that you will need to practice WMA in the ARMA style is willingness, that seems to be something you have.
For clarification, because your brother isn't 18 he can't legally be a member of ARMA, but that doesn't mean that he can't practice Western Martial Arts. (Correct me if I'm wrong)
As for padded weapons, ARMA has a great page that will tell you how to build accurate sparring weapons, and as has been stated here "If you pad the weapon you don't have to pad the person." Even when using wasters you should always be in enough control to avoid serious injuries like broken bones. I would start with a pair of padded swords, and one waster for pell work. At the beginning level you won't need more than that.
It's never too early to start with foot and pell work. Also, use the website heavily. There's a lot of information there, take advantage of it.
For wasters and steel blunts as well as test cutters the internet is full of places to get the things you need, but I'd ask around before buying anything.

[Iuri Sá Earp]

Thanks for all of the help and pleased to meet you. I will surely follow your advice and build my own padded weapon as soon as I get a responce from ARMA, also it is good to know that wearing armor is not a necessity while using those(although making your own custom armor could be fun ).
I will probably drag my brother to spar with me now that I know that that should not be a problem .
Oh!I have forgot to ask another question that I have:
Would a kendo helm work as an efficient protection?

[Sal Bertucci]

I've never worn one, but I think it should work with padded weapons and maybe even for wasters.

[Keith Culbertson]

Welcome Iuri, nice to have more excited people on board! Your brother can certainly join, just as a youth member, which is actually a great deal if you look at it on the how to join pages---just one extra form I believe.

As for starting out, well, do a search through numerous threads here on the forum asking the same thing, but mostly study the online manuscript illustrations and translated texts, stay fit and work on footwork, try to emulate the cutting exercises from the video sections and try to practice with intent while learning to control your strikes in sparring situations. Try to do test-cutting if you have any blades. By all means see if you can ever attend a training session, or se if you can get an instructor (a Senior free scholar or John Clements himself) down there to you once you have built your study group.

as for equipment, sometimes that is piecemeal at first for anyone, but make sure weapons do not fit between grille bars in any helmets. try absolutefencinggear for their helmets, kendo might work; i have a kali helmet that works great for all but blunt steel.

your English is pretty darn good by the way, ciao for now

[Jeremiah Backhaus]

Iuri,

Welcome! I just wanted to tell you one thing - you keep saying that you are waiting to hear back, Start training now! On the website you have enough info to begin working on the basics of footwork movement and stances. Don't wait to hear back start training!

I agree with everyone else, your English is very good.

-Jeremiah (GFS)