*GASP* You live in GA too?! That's so cool! I don't feel so alone anymore! I live in Suwanee GA.
Yeah, there's like no one in GA. You just don't find much competition in these parts. Hardly anyone plays the game, and the ones that do are super noobs who talk big. The only formidable opponents are a few of my friends (before I learned Advanced Tech) and my sister. My friends don't know advanced tech other than wavedash, and they suck at it. Recently, when I pulled off advanced tech on one of them, I owned him completely. My sister is really the only true adversary I have. She's pretty tough, but she doesn't use advanced tech. She does use a bit of mindgames though. And she can tech and shieldgrab and edgehog. Yeah, you're probably thinking that I'm an amateur by now.
If I were you, I'd only practice against a level 9 when I know how to play against a human well. I would master advanced basics and just practice comboes on lvl 9 whenever there's an opening, or when I just want to kill something.