When collegiate sports programs recruit athletes, they can measure concrete metrics like a player’s sprint speed, throwing velocity, and physical strength. But there has never been a clear way to quantify the mental aspects of sports—how well will this athlete perform in high-pressure situations? Will they stay calm, focus, and give it their best shot, or will they panic in the spotlight and mess up?
NTangible co-founder and CEO Dan Connerty thinks he’s unlocked the secret to measuring if a player will execute in the most important moments. The Clutch Factor assessment, inspired by the Thematic Apperception Test, is designed to predict how likely an athlete is to perform under pressure. Scores range from 0 to 1,000, with athletes scoring over 750 being twice as likely to commit to a Division I school.
The score is generated based on the key words used, the way in which they are used, and the semantic phrasing, which is then scored against the neurolinguistic scoring guide that psychologists created. This number can be used in rankings, leaderboards, recruiting conversations, and scholarship conversations, especially in the crazy wild west that is collegiate sports right now, where we’re writing £2.5 million checks to quarterbacks.
A possible flaw in the product, however, could be that athletes seeking to impress coaches and recruiters may answer the questions dishonestly to get a higher clutch score. When I took the quiz and answered honestly, I got a below-average score of 584, which didn’t surprise me— I dreaded high-leverage situations when I played high school sports. When I took the quiz a second time, answering as I imagined a very level-headed, clutch, top recruit might respond, I scored 802.
Perhaps the platform would work better as a way for coaches to learn more about their athletes and help them improve in weaker areas. Connerty thinks that “clutch” is a skill that can be trained. While he isn’t positioning NTangible as a training platform, he worked with former MLB sports psychologist Howie Schwartz to create a list of exercises that athletes can use as a starting point for upping their mental game. NTangible now supports testing for nine sports and has ambitions to expand the clutch test to apply to corporate settings, so that HR departments can evaluate employees’ strengths and weaknesses under pressure. The NTerpret assessment translates more directly to the workplace—the respondent answers questions about how they best respond to coaching and feedback, giving management data on how that employee processes instructions and acts on information.
