NTangible Develops Assessment to Predict Athlete Performance Under Pressure

Sports technology company NTangible has introduced a new psychological assessment aimed at measuring and predicting athlete performance in high-pressure situations. The company believes this offers a critical advantage for sports teams, particularly in recruitment and player development.

Traditionally, athletes' abilities have been evaluated based on physical metrics and statistics. NTangible seeks to fill a gap by quantifying what they call the "clutch factor" – an athlete's mental readiness to perform when it matters most. Co-founder and CEO Dan Connerty, a former professional player, stated the company's focus was on tackling the challenge of measuring cognitive performance.

Connerty, alongside psychologist Dr. Ed Levine, developed the assessment inspired by the Thematic Apperception Test. In this test, athletes are presented with ambiguous scenarios and asked to describe what they see, their role in the situation, and potential outcomes. The assessment's results are derived from analyzing word choices and semantic phrasing using a neuro-linguistic scoring guide developed by psychologists.

The assessment yields a "clutch factor score" ranging from 0 to 1000. According to Connerty, an athlete scoring above 750 is twice as likely to commit to a Division I program. NTangible anticipates these scores can be heavily utilized in rankings, leaderboards, recruiting conversations, and NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) and scholarship discussions, especially at the collegiate level.

NTangible provides an analytics platform for collegiate sports organizations and other clubs. The company aims to equip coaches and recruiters with a deeper understanding of athletes' mental fortitude, potentially leading to better decision-making and more holistic player development.