This post reframes the PLOS One qualitative study on youth Camogie into an actionable research brief for qualitative teams and sport researchers, using the primary keyword playing up qualitative analysis. According to the PLOS One article by O’Keeffe and Lane (published August 11, 2026), the study used semi-structured interviews to probe adolescent players’ experiences of playing up an age grade, yielding themes that inform coach practice and safeguarding. Qualitative teams seeking rapid thematic synthesis, quote extraction, and coach-facing recommendations will find a clear payoff: extractable themes, verbatim quotes, and coded recommendations that can be produced faster with AI-enabled workflows.
Key Takeaways
According to PLOS One, O’Keeffe and Lane (published August 11, 2026) report that youth Camogie players generally view playing up an age grade as developmentally positive when supported, but they also report clear psychosocial and injury risks.
- Sample and method: O’Keeffe and Lane interviewed n = 15 adolescent players (mean age 14.4 ± 1.1 years) between May 1 and August 31, 2024, and analysed transcripts with reflexive thematic analysis, according to PLOS One.
- Prevalence context: The authors cite that in prior surveys (2024), 52% of under-14s play up to under-16 and 72% of under-16s play up to under-18, placing the phenomenon in a broader participation context, as reported in PLOS One.
- Core finding: O’Keeffe and Lane found that 80% of participants expressed favourable perceptions of playing up in August 2026, citing accelerated skill development and psychosocial gains, but they also flagged pressures, social friction, and injury concerns.
- Actionable recommendation: Players and the study recommended autonomy-supportive coaching, social inclusion strategies, and individual readiness checks rather than blanket age-based policies, as described in PLOS One.
What happened in O’Keeffe & Lane’s study: playing up qualitative analysis
Answer: O’Keeffe and Lane conducted online semi-structured interviews with adolescent Camogie players to capture their lived experiences of playing up an age grade.
According to PLOS One, the authors recruited fifteen players (n = 15) who were all playing up at least one age grade, with interviews audio-recorded on Zoom between May 1 and August 31, 2024.
According to PLOS One, transcripts were produced from automatic Zoom transcriptions, checked for accuracy by the research team, and analysed using a six-step reflexive thematic analysis approach developed by Braun and Clarke.
Findings snapshot
| Date | Metric | Value | Implication |
|---|---|---|---|
| May–Aug 2024 | Interviews conducted | n = 15; mean age 14.4 ± 1.1 years | Primary qualitative dataset for thematic analysis |
| August 11, 2026 | Publication | PLOS One article by O’Keeffe & Lane | Peer-reviewed report of themes and recommendations |
| 2024 (cited data) | Prevalence | 52% of U14s play up to U16; 72% of U16s play up to U18 | Playing up is common and relevant to policy and coaching |
| Study results | Perception ratio | 80% favourable perceptions among participants | Majority report skill and psychosocial gains but note risks |
Implications for qualitative researchers and sport practitioners
Answer: The study shows what qualitative teams should prioritise when analysing playing up: verbatim quotes that reveal social dynamics, code frequencies for reported harms (pressure, injury risk), and cross-segment comparisons by rural/urban context.
According to PLOS One, participants reported benefits including accelerated skill development and psychosocial competence, and negatives including ‘pressures and demands’, adverse peer interactions, and impaired intrinsic motivation; qualitative teams should code these as distinct but related themes.
According to PLOS One, coaches and policy-makers should use individual readiness checks and social inclusion strategies, so qualitative outputs aimed at stakeholders must translate themes into concrete actions such as mentoring programs and phased trial exposures.
How Evidano helps with playing up qualitative analysis
What Evidano is and why it fits this study
Evidano is an AI-powered qualitative data analysis platform that helps researchers analyze interviews, open-ended surveys, and documents.
Evidano accelerates the reflexive thematic analysis workflow used by O’Keeffe and Lane by automating transcription checks, extracting verbatim quotes tied to participant IDs, and producing thematic maps and code co-occurrence networks suitable for coach- and policy-facing reports.
Problem: Manual transcription review is slow → Evidano feature
According to PLOS One, the authors used automatic Zoom transcriptions and then reviewed them for accuracy; Evidano automates that step by offering verified speech-to-text with PII redaction and a custom dictionary for sport terms.
Feature benefit: faster transcript QA and consistent speaker tagging reduces researcher hours and preserves verbatim quotes like “"if I wanted to, I could"" (P7) for reproducible coding.
Problem: Thematic grouping and code frequency are time-consuming → Evidano feature
According to PLOS One, the study used reflexive thematic analysis to generate themes and sub-themes; Evidano provides automated theme suggestion, hierarchical code trees, and frequency tables that mirror that six-step analytic flow.
Feature benefit: produce stakeholder-ready tables (e.g., counts of players reporting ‘pressure’) and visual co-occurrence networks so coaches can see which negatives cluster with which benefits.
Problem: Translating findings into coach guidance → Evidano feature
According to PLOS One, players recommended social inclusion and autonomy-supportive coaching; Evidano templates convert themes into recommended actions and slide-ready summaries under the features module.
Feature benefit: deliver rapid, evidence-linked recommendations such as phased integration plans and mentorship protocols with verbatim quotes for credibility.
FAQ: playing up qualitative analysis
What does 'playing up an age grade' mean in qualitative research terms?
Answer: Playing up an age grade means a youth athlete competes in a chronological age category above their own, and qualitative research treats it as a lived experience requiring interviews about adaptation, social integration, and perceived risk.
According to PLOS One, the authors framed playing up as both a developmental opportunity and a potential stressor that is best explored with semi-structured interviews and reflexive thematic analysis.
How many participants and what dates are in the PLOS One Camogie study?
Answer: The study interviewed fifteen players (n = 15) between May 1 and August 31, 2024.
According to PLOS One, the mean participant age was 14.4 ± 1.1 years and all participants were currently playing up at least one age grade.
Which quotes from the study best illustrate social integration challenges?
Answer: Short participant quotes that illustrate social friction include “"you dread it a bit more"" (P1) and “"no one’s ever putting pressure on each other"" (P8).
According to PLOS One, these verbatim lines capture the contrast between exclusion and ideal team climates and are useful for coding relatedness and cohesion themes.
Can AI tools reproduce the reflexive thematic analysis used in the study?
Answer: AI tools can automate many mechanical steps of reflexive thematic analysis but should be used to augment, not replace, researcher reflexivity and interpretation.
According to methodological guidance cited in PLOS One, reflexive thematic analysis requires researcher judgement; Evidano accelerates coding, extracts quotations, and visualizes patterns while preserving human-led theme definition.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Answer: O’Keeffe and Lane’s PLOS One study (published August 11, 2026) shows that playing up an age grade can accelerate skill and psychosocial development but carries measurable psychosocial and injury risks that require individualised, autonomy-supportive implementation.
Qualitative teams should prioritize verbatim quote extraction, code frequency reporting, and cross-segment comparisons (for example rural versus urban players) when producing outputs for coaches and policy-makers, as demonstrated in the PLOS One dataset.
If you want to reproduce this kind of rapid, stakeholder-ready synthesis, Evidano can automate transcription QA, quote extraction, thematic coding, and visual reports; to test it, Try Evidano for free.
Topics
- playing up qualitative analysis
- playing up age grade
- Camogie qualitative study
- youth sport qualitative research
Keep reading
- Commentary on NewsPlaying Up: Qualitative Analysis of CamogieAI-ready playbook for researchers: playing up qualitative analysis of youth Camogie from PLOS ONE (Aug 11, 2026). Learn findings, stats, and AI research workflows.
- Commentary on NewsPlayer Perceptions: Playing Up Qualitative AnalysisInsights from a PLOS One study on playing up in youth Camogie: why 15 players gained skills but faced risks. Learn AI-enabled qualitative analysis best practices.
- Commentary on NewsPlaying Up Qualitative Analysis: Youth CamogieHow youth Camogie players experience playing up an age grade, a qualitative analysis with practical guidance for researchers and coaches. Learn AI workflows.