Theme sub-theme	Demonstrating quote
Autonomy
Opportunity	“Just getting to play the sport more.” “We’d get to learn new skills.” “Cos you get to play games.”
Outdoors	“A lot more people might want to do it when it’s outside. A lot more people like it outside.” “Yeh cos you need to get fresh air.” “To clear your head.”
Competence
Journey to competence	“Yeh cos you’d be thinking that yes I did that. I did it well and I was ok at it. Like you’ve kind of accomplished something.” “Like when you achieve something cos of your own effort you feel better than anything else. Like if you made the county team and other girls at home didn’t you get a sense of earning it and of success in yourself.”
Get fit	“Keep us fit.” “If you don’t do any physical activity at all like even if you don’t walk like if you were extremely lazy then that would be so bad for you.”
Relatedness
Facilitator of connection	“Like your teammates are supportive for each other. You’ve already bonded over like simple or everyday stuff so the losing together makes it stronger. You have all the stuff to talk about too like funny stuff that happened in training or that and that helps cheer you up.”
Family influence	“I prefer hurling but that’s only cos it’s a family thing. I wasn’t very good at the start but kept going cos I knew it was important at home.”
Polarising individual sports	“I think there is a lot of pressure on them. Like say you messed up doing something in camogie then there will be someone else there that will back you up on it but in like horse riding or individual sports then all the pressure is on you. So if you mess up you’re kinda gone like.” “But that kinda makes them more driven and more independent to achieve what they want.”