The
fencing term for the fencing area itself, sometimes also known as the
piste.
The fencing
strip measures 2 meters wide and 14 meters long. Lines appear to deliniate the
center of the strip, the
on guard lines (2 meters from the center line on each side), the 2 meter warning lines (obviously, 2 meter from the ends of the strip), and the end lines themselves.
Thus, it looks something like this (pardon my bad attempt at
ASCII art)
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(A
B
C
D
E
F
G)
...where A and G are the end lines, B and F are the 2 meter warning lines, C and E are the
on guard lines, and D is the
center line.
When a
fencer retreats past their own end line with both feet, they penalized by awarding a touch to their
opponent.
When a
fencer steps outside of the
lateral boundaries with one foot, the
referee stops the action but does not penalize the fencer and simply replaces the
fencers
on guard where they were.
When a
fencer steps outside of the
lateral boundaries with both feet, the
referee stops the action and then replaces the
fencers on guard, but advances the other fencer up one
meter.
But, if the
referee feels that the
fencer intentionally stepped over the
lateral boundary (with either one foot or two), then that fencer is given a
yellow card.