Back in the medieval times there was lots of close combat fighting, they did this during wars and even just for recreational purposes. To this day some people still do fencing as well as sparring; this is very much like the close combat they use to do actual sword battle back in the medieval times, but less dangerous. They do this today for recreational purposes in many parts of the world.
The dueling they do is not just with swords and/or shields they do it with many different types of weapons like maces, spears, flails and many other types. Besides recreational purposes they do this as a show for people, to earn money through the entrance fees they charge. Getting good at fighting with swords and other various weapons is not easy, normally people take a lot of training to get good with them.
Even if the swords that they fight with are dull they can still hurt you a lot if you don’t properly defend yourself and wear the proper armor. Even though it may look bad when you see these mock fights nobody ever really gets severely injured due to the armor that they wear being designed to dissipate the force of the blade. When the fighting took place back in the medieval times if you messed up it was your life on the line not just your body getting hurt where you had to recover.
Even though it is possible to learn a few sword plays I would never recommend an amateur try it unless they are supervised by a professional. Like I said earlier these swords may be dull but they can still inflict a mortal wound if handled wrong.
You can find places where they teach you how to handle and spar with swords, or even fence which is a totally different form of fighting than what you would do with a regular sword. It of course costs for these lessons but is a lot of fun. Fencing a different type of sword fighting may not be as exciting as sparing with swords, maces, flails or any other type of close combat weapon, it still takes a great deal of skill and proper safety gear. So fighting with close combat weapons may look like fun but is dangerous if you are not prepared. Before you go try to do sword play with a friend make sure you know what you’re doing and have all the proper safety gear.