good luck gyrokai, I remember you posted a few months ago about waiting to start sparring.

I sparred myself for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and what the guys are saying on here is spot on. You're better off fighting against an experienced guy going easy on you than anything else, if you spar another beginner it's likely to turn into a fight without good supervision.

They're also right about how tiring sparring is compared to everything else, I took pride in my stamina from running, cross training and even the heavy bag before I got in the ring, but I was still pretty tired after the first round of sarring.
It was a real eye-opener, its made me change my approach to other aspects of my training; I definitily concentrate and work harder on my shadowboxing now, working on my footwork and picturing my opponent in front of me.

Have fun sparring and tell us how it went, and good luck finding a good gym over the summer.