President Obama is hosting a White House event Thursday highlighting the long-term risk of concussions from youth sports.

In an interview with the New Republic last year, the president expressed concerns that the institutional protections of the NCAA and other youth athletic associations were insufficient in addressing the lingering effects of physical injuries, particularly head trauma, saying he “would have to think long and hard” if he had a son whether to allow him to play football. The White House says his concern was amplified by a 2013 study from the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, which summarized significant shortcomings in research knowledge and data collection of concussions.