{"id":1461,"date":"2017-11-13T23:56:34","date_gmt":"2017-11-14T06:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/?p=1461"},"modified":"2017-11-13T23:59:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T06:59:27","slug":"know-the-rules-falling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/know-the-rules-falling\/","title":{"rendered":"Know the Rules: Falling"},"content":{"rendered":"

No point for Falling Fencer:<\/strong>\u00a0A score by a falling fencer is disallowed if the touch occurs during or after<\/em> a fall by such fencer. Rule t.87.2 states that touches made during or after a fall are \u201cirregular actions\u201d that are forbidden and that \u201cany touch scored by the fencer at fault is annulled<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0The rule is a strict test (does not distinguish intentional versus accident), probably so that the referee is not put in the position of subjectively evaluating \u201canti-sporting behavior\u201d (e.g., a dangerous dive to hit the opponent vs. simply losing balance).<\/p>\n

Penalty Card:<\/strong>\u00a0In addition<\/em> to the score being annulled, the falling fencer receives a penalty card (yellow, if it is the first penalty) if<\/em> a touch is made by the falling fencer. Rule t.120 (the \u201cPenalty Chart\u201d) explicitly provides that \u201ctouches made during or after a fall\u201d is an abnormal fencing action and a 1st Group Penalty (1st offense being a Yellow Card<\/em>). Please note the oddity: if the falling fencer did not<\/em> score a touch, he\/she does not receive a penalty.<\/p>\n

Just a Fall:<\/strong> A simple fall, without<\/em> a touch from either fencer, results in a \u201chalt\u201d with no penalties. Of course, an intentional fall (e.g., to avoid a hit), which would be in the judgment of the referee (it probably would need to be egregious\/obvious), could result in a card or warning under the Penalty Chart for \u201cdisorderly fencing\u201d or \u201canti-sporting behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Constitutes Falling:<\/strong> Interestingly, Rule t.21.1 states that \u201cDisplacing the target and ducking are allowed<\/em> even if during the action the unarmed hand and\/or knee of the back leg comes into contact with the strip<\/em>.\u201d In other words, a mere hand or knee touching the floor, by itself, is not \u201cfalling\u201d under Rules t.87.2 and t.120 \u2013 so, such a fencer can score a touch this way. It appears that under the rules the referee must be careful in distinguishing whether a fencer actually \u201cfalls\u201d (off balance) versus merely using the strip to assist the fencer in maintaining his\/her balance (often, just one hand or one knee touching the floor).\u00a0Although difficult to distinguish through words, the referee must make a judgment using Justice Potter\u2019s \u201cI know it when I see it\u201d formula.<\/p>\n

Fall After the Touch:<\/strong>\u00a0A fencer who makes a touch and then, subsequently, loses balance and falls, is not a \u201cfalling fencer.\u201d No penalty, score counts. In this case, a referee must be able to see the separation of the two actions\u2014a touch, and then afterwards<\/em> the fencer losing balance and falling (Rule t.87.2: touch was not made during<\/em> (or after) a falling).\u00a0This may be a fairly tough call for the referee\u2014a fencer may have lost balance before<\/em> the touch, but only afterwards falls (after struggling to stay up).\u00a0If the process of falling started before the touch and the falling continued (uninterrupted\/unrecovered and within a reasonable passage of time) until the actual fall to the floor itself occurs, the annulment of score and the penalty should be applied. Justice Potter\u2019s \u201cI know it when I see it\u201d test may again need to be used.<\/p>\n

Touch by the Opponent to a Falling Fencer:<\/strong> An opponent is permitted to hit a falling fencer.\u00a0Thus, when the referee calls \u201chalt\u201d when a fencer falls, a touch resulting from an action by the non-falling opponent that began before the \u201chalt\u201d counts (i.e., the opponent can complete the action he\/started before \u201chalt\u201d).\u00a0Thus, in the circumstances described, if both fencers make a touch, only the opponent of the falling fencer scores (the falling fencer\u2019s touch is annulled and also receives a penalty); if only the opponent makes a touch, the opponent scores (but the falling fencer does not receive a penalty, since he\/she did not make a touch).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No point for Falling Fencer:\u00a0A score by a falling fencer is disallowed if the touch occurs during or after a fall by such fencer. Rule t.87.2 states that touches made during or after a fall are \u201cirregular actions\u201d that are forbidden and that \u201cany touch scored by the fencer at fault is annulled.\u201d\u00a0The rule is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1461"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1463,"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461\/revisions\/1463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}