The problem with recruiting

Collegiate sports programs can measure sprint speed and throwing velocity but have no way to quantify how athletes perform under pressure in high-stakes moments.

NTangible's solution

Co-founder and CEO Dan Connerty, a former professional baseball player, developed a psychological assessment with psychologist Dr. Ed Levine to predict clutch performance.

How the test works

The Clutch Factor assessment is inspired by the Thematic Apperception Test. Athletes see ambiguous photos and describe what they see, who they imagine themselves to be, and what might happen next.

Scoring the assessment

Key words and semantic phrasing are scored against a neurolinguistic guide created by psychologists, producing a clutch factor score between zero and one thousand.

“The key words that you use, the way in which you use those words, and the semantic phrasing associated with it get scored against the neurolinguistic scoring guide that psychologists created, and it shoots out your clutch factor score.”

What the score predicts

Athletes scoring over seven hundred fifty are twice as likely to commit to a Division I school, according to Connerty. The score can be used in rankings, recruiting conversations, and scholarship discussions.

A potential weakness

Athletes seeking to impress recruiters may answer dishonestly to get higher scores. The author scored five hundred eighty-four answering honestly but eight hundred two when answering as an imagined top recruit would.

Training the mental game

Connerty believes clutch is a trainable skill. He worked with former MLB sports psychologist Howie Schwartz to create exercises athletes can use to improve their mental performance under pressure.

Expanding beyond baseball

NTangible now supports testing for nine sports. Connerty also plans to expand the clutch test to corporate settings, where HR departments could evaluate employees' performance under pressure.

Business strategy and next steps

NTangible's most viable business model is selling to sports organizations and companies directly rather than individual athletes. The company competes at TechCrunch Disrupt October thirteen to fifteen in San Francisco.