SC Cambuur is fully committed to developing young talent – and technology is playing an increasingly important role in that process. The club recently partnered with Smart11 to equip their entire youth academy with advanced video-analysis and coaching tools. It’s an exciting step that brings together technology, self-regulation, and the club’s football philosophy.
With the Smart11 app, all Cambuur youth players now analyse their own matches, allowing them to actively work on their game intelligence. They don’t just see what happens on the pitch – they learn why it happens. This gives them control over their decisions, helps them learn form every action, and empowers them to grow through their own initiative.
“A tool that gives players a tremendous amount of ownership over their development”
According to SC Cambuur, Smart11 aligns seamlessly with the club’s development philosophy. Self-regulation and personal initiative are key pillars in Leeuwarden — from the U12s to the U21s, players are taught to make their own decisions and take responsibility for their growth.
“If you look at what we value as a club – setting goals, working with a process-oriented mindset, being self-regulating, and taking initiative in your development – Smart11 is simply outstanding” says Justin van der Dam (Head-coach of Cambuur U19). “This is a tool that gives players a huge amount of responsibility, helping them clearly identify both their strengths and their development areas.”
Encouraging self-regulation – getting players to watch video more frequently and with more focus – is exactly why Cambuur chose to work with Smart11 this season.
Cambuur talents, powered by Smart11
How does that work in practice? Instead of relying solely on feedback from coaches, Cambuur talents step into the role of analyst themselves. Players collect and tag their own match footage, link it to their personal development goals, and track their progress. Through the Smart11 app, creating clips of your actions is incredibly simple.
“You make your own clips and can analyse them right away”, explains Damian Westerhof (U19 player).
“You might think something went well, but your coach may see it differently. With Smart11, your coaches can review everything too — they open your footage on their laptop and you go through all the moments together. You can even select your own goals to work on in the app by simply tapping them.”
The power of Smart11 lies in making every situation on the pitch visual. Coaches and players reflect together on the footage and data, giving the player targeted feedback that fits their individual development path. During an analysis session, the coach pauses a clip and point out: “Look, here the pass arrives too hard and bouncing. Play it into his feet more calmly — that gives your teammates time to move up.”
With the video right in front of them, the message becomes crystal clear — the player sees what could have been better and understands why. These concrete insights are carried straight into the next training session or match.
Smart11 encourages players to take an objective look at their own game. After every action, the app provides targeted feedback. Players can mark an action with a plus (well done), a circle (could be better), or a minus (needs improvement), and then receive follow-up questions. “Say your first touch wasn’t good — the app might suggest: would it have been better to pass or to dribble?” Damian explains.
“Those questions make you think, and you learn exactly what you could’ve done differently. I carry that knowledge with me, so in the next matches I focus on what needs improvement.”
Thanks to this self-analysis, players come well-prepared: even before speaking with their coach, they already know where their improvement points lie and how they want to work on them.
From opinion to insight: facts as the foundation
In the football world, everyone has an opinion—but those opinions are often subjective. Smart11 helps shift the discussion from gut feeling to facts. Because everything is captured on video, conversations become far more concrete. Coaches can also add their feedback directly in the app — for example, an assistant coach who marks a clip to explain what could have been better — giving the player multiple perspectives. The video becomes an objective mirror: what went well is acknowledged, and what went wrong is discussed without judgment, but backed by evidence. “In football there are a lot of opinions, but they’re subjective. That’s what I love about this tool,” is a common sentiment within the academy. With Smart11, players see for themselves what actually happened, instead of having to simply take a coach’s word for it. That makes learning far more effective and fair.
The results of this approach are clearly visible on the pitch. Players become more self-aware, tactically smarter, and easier to coach. They take control of their development — even before stepping onto the training ground. Coaches notice that players come better prepared to individual meetings, with focused questions and concrete insights. Trainers also save time on match analysis, because players have already taken the first step themselves. One-on-one sessions become sharper, more efficient, and focused on what truly matters.
The collaboration between SC Cambuur and Smart11 shows that technology and personal initiative can go hand in hand. Players learn to elevate their football intelligence by analysing their own performances and making conscious decisions. And coaches can guide this process with richer, more focused feedback.
The end result? A growth culture in which players learn faster, coaches coach smarter, and everyone improves together. With this approach, Cambuur is building a new generation of intelligent, self-regulating football talents — ready to make the difference. Watch the full video here!