NTangible Develops Psychological Assessment to Predict Athletes' Performance Under Pressure

Image: NTangible bets it can predict how athletes will perform under pressure · Source

NTangible has created a 'Clutch Factor' test analyzing athletes' mental readiness to perform in high-pressure moments, targeting collegiate sports organizations with potential to expand into corporate use.

Traditional metrics used in collegiate sports recruitment, such as sprint speed or physical strength, do not capture an athlete's mental resilience in critical moments. NTangible, a sports technology startup, aims to fill this gap with a psychological assessment called the Clutch Factor. Co-founded by former professional baseball player and entrepreneur Dan Connerty alongside psychologist Dr. Ed Levine, the platform attempts to quantify an athlete’s capacity to excel under stress, a quality often considered intangible.

The Clutch Factor test draws inspiration from the Thematic Apperception Test, a psychological method where individuals interpret ambiguous images to reveal underlying attitudes and thought patterns. Athletes respond to visual prompts, describing the scenarios they perceive, their imagined roles, and anticipated outcomes. These verbal responses are analyzed with a neurolinguistic scoring system developed by psychologists, producing a clutch score between 0 and 1000.

According to Connerty, scoring above 750 correlates with a significantly higher chance of committing to Division I programs. NTangible envisions this metric as a valuable tool for rankings, recruiting, scholarship decisions, and name, image, and likeness (NIL) negotiations, especially amid the complex and financially competitive collegiate sports environment.

A notable challenge lies in the test’s potential vulnerability to coached or dishonest answers; athletes might tailor responses to boost scores. An informal test showed that different framing of answers yields substantially different results. Nevertheless, Connerty asserts clutch performance is a trainable skill and, though NTangible does not currently offer training, it provides exercise suggestions developed with former MLB sports psychologist Howie Schwartz to enhance athletes’ mental toughness.

While NTangible started with baseball, it now supports nine sports and is exploring applications beyond athletics. A corporate-oriented assessment, called NTerpret, evaluates employee responses to coaching and feedback, aiming to improve workplace management by assessing pressure-handling capabilities.

NTangible plans to market directly to sports organizations and corporate clients rather than individual athletes. The company was a competitor in TechCrunch Disrupt’s Startup Battlefield in October 2026, signaling its active pursuit of innovation and investment in the sports analytics space.