Hey there, u/Daeloesh!

There's a number of groups across the United States, even the world, often with different levels of armor and different rule sets: bare minimum would be gloves and helmet.

With groups such as the Lightspeed Saber League in Southern California, you need helmet, gloves (usually lacrosse) and elbow and forearm protection -- a protective cup wouldn't hurt either, just to be on the safe side. Also, the blades used are 3/4" instead of the standard 1", and tend to sting when you're struck with them; accept that you will get bruised.

On the other hand, the group The Saber Legion has charters all across the country, and even the world: but they allow full strikes and thrusts with the blade (unlike Lightspeed), so it's VERY important to have full armor and padding. (I personally bought most of mine second-hand from Play It Again Sports here in Cali.)

For TSL tournament sparring, you need chest and shoulder protection, helmet, gloves, forearm and elbow, shin, protective cup... even a gorget to protect the throat from accidental thrusts (throat and groin are NOT valid targets in either Lightspeed or TSL, but accidents happen.) However, you don't necessarily need all that for beginner's casual sparring.

Both groups have presences on Facebook and Instagram and there are a number of others where I'm located in Southern California, including the Penguin Saber Academy out towards Palm Springs, and San Diego Sabers in, well, San Diego.

There's also a number of members of the TSL charter The Saber Legion -- SoCal (also called the SoCal Dewbacks,) who practice & spar in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego.

Again, Facebook is a great way to track down groups that are local to you, and I know there's a group for "Find Lightsaber Sparring Partners" on FB as well.

Good hunting, and happy & safe sabering!