Greetings fine sir! While language akin to this is by no mean necessary, I find it quite amusing.
Ok, I ran out of old english....
My sparring armour is pretty simple. I definatelty know what it's like to be on a tight budget. Keep in mind, that unless you are sparring with padded weapons, you will be going SLLLLOOOOWWWWWW and cautious. So, no one should be hurt. But accidents do happen, and people get carried away. My point is, you don't need alot of armour.
You definately need gloves. Look for motorcycle gauntlets. Get some that have padding on the top of the hand, and the fingers. You will be glad you bought them. They are usually around $50, and are one of the more expensive pieces of armour you will need, but they are the most important by far, IMHO. I shopped around, and found a pair for $35.
Next, get some elbow pads. If you are sparring or winding, and you happen to get cracked in the elbow, you will learn the funny bone, isn't that funny! You can get these almost anywhere. Check thrift stores!
Also important if you plan to spar, a helmet or sparring mask. You can get sparring masks for fencing, and they work, but I preffer a full helmet. Anything with lots of padding should do the trick. A hockey mask is about the best you can get. The grill covers the entire face. Catcher's helmets, and football helmets also work, but you may want to add to the grill. Trust me, a Zwerchau that just happens to slide through your helmet, and hit the brige of your nose, will HURT! Our group is planning on soon modifying our helmets, by adding mesh grills with built-in gorgets (neck protection). Check thrift shops, and sports stores. My friends bought there's used for around $20 at a sports store. I got lucky, and found a catchers helmet that fits perfectly, brand new, for $30.
You may also want to invest in some knee pads. Especially if you bruise easily, or have weak knees. I found a pair of hockey/catchers lower leg guards at a thrift store for $1.50! What a deal. I can not even feal shot's to the leg at all. But you can sure hear them! Not surprisingly, these are almost exactly like plastic versions of real grieves.
That being said, the only other thing I can tell you is, if you have steel toed boots or shoes, wear them.
There is such a thing as to much armour. It shouldn't slow you down. If it does, lose some of it. I don't mean sapr with no armour, but don't wear armour that is unnecisary. You should also never begin to feal invinsible. This will lead to bad habits, that could get you hurt later. Remember, ANY hit is one that could severly damage you in a real fight. And along those same lines, others shouldn't see you as invincible, or harder to hurt, with armour on. If they don't use the same amout of caution, and begin hitting harder, start losing armour. Sparring can be very dangerous if people are careless!
I hope I have helped a bit here. Good luck, and with a little scrounging, you should find some suitable items! <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />
