I caught our son, Sam (on the left in the gray t-shirt), sparring -- well, posing as if he were sparring -- with his friend, Vinny. They use weapons made from PVC pipe, foam insulation, and mucho duct tape.
I could not get on-camera our next-door neighbor, a retired Marine captain, who has sparred a few times with the boys. He was retired out of the Marine Corps with severe bone cancer. He now gets around with a cane, but he is a formidable sparring opponent nonetheless. He uses an unpadded boken or bokken, a wooden sword used for practice in the martial arts. You can try to outmaneuver him if you'd care to, but he's going to split you from chin to nether regions if you get cocky.
Just a fun time watching the fellows duke it out with sticks.