[Mike]

I thought the body armor sucked. It's really hot, the helmet squeezes your ears down and makes everything sound like loud muffled yelps. The first thing you practice when you get the helmet on is how to smack each other on the head and the hands over and over and over while pacing forward and backward across the room (the "Men" and "Kote" strokes). I felt pretty much deaf after each class.

That having been said, have a good time, kid. I'm glad that you are learning the art of sword fighting in a really uncomfortable get-up that could only have been invented by a nation of people who design washing-machine pants and fake pets that live in plastic eggs.