Weird rules play a big part in high school sports. Soccer is no exception.

In soccer, all players are required to wear shinguards, but recently the way they are worn has come under more scrutiny. The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) requires that the shinguards cannot be placed any higher than two inches above the ankle and cannot be any lower than one inch from the knee. Shinguards worn in any other way will be considered inappropriate.

Though most referees do not measure the length of shinguards before each game and tend to let inappropriate shinguards slide, the NFHS considers incorrectly sized shingaurds illegal.

“If a [person] isn’t going to wear shinguards, it’s their own shin that they are going to break,” said sophomore Louise Guy. “Even though it is unsafe it’s their own decision and their own fault if they [hurt] themselves.”

The NFHS has also decided that all shingaurds worn by the players will have to have a National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) seal on the front of their shingaurds. How this is going to help is not really clear because referees are not going to have the time to check each and every players’ shingaurds before a game to see if they have the correct seal.

So what is the point of these rules? The world may never know.