For practice I recommend a couple things.

Fly the plane hard at at the edge of it's and your limits. I like to practice low figure 8's at full bore. Combat is nearly allways on the edge so you need to get comfortable there. If your feeling pretty good about your low figure eights try to do it inverted. Start out high though! This tends to unnerve the other flyers and is best done when no one else is up.
Second practice flying the plane in your peripheral vision. You can't search for targets if your fixated on your own plane. This seems very odd at first but you get used to it. It's also a good idea to have a plan for when you lose sight of your plane in the furball. It's gonna happen! If it never does your not trying hard enough! I pull full up elevator and look forthe looping plane. I know my planes will do continuous loops for at least 3 or full loops so I ususally can find it before to long. Bright colors that stand out help too!
I also like to shadow some of the sport flyers who don't object to much. It's good practice to just stay on their six. They tend to get sore if you hit them though so you have to keep your distance!

Feel the Force my young apprentice!