The Canadian Soccer Association announced on Monday that both Canada’s U-17 and U-20 women’s national teams will hold training camps over the next month. Five Whitecaps FC Girls Elite players have been named to Canada’s U-17 women’s training camp roster, while four Whitecaps FC women’s players have been named to Canada’s U-20 women’s squad.  On Canada’s U-20 women’s team, newly-appointed head coach Andrew Olivieri has included four players from the 2011 Whitecaps FC women’s team: Nicole Setterlund, Jaclyn Sawicki and Erin Uchacz, and Jenna Richardson.

VisionPro Sports Institute (VSI) announced on Tuesday the launch of its new soccer academy in the town of Rio Maior in central Portugal. The project will also incorporate the formation of VSI Rio Maior FC, which will serve as an outlet for its young players to develop and play in Portugal’s competitive soccer structure. VSI recently partnered with the Brandon Flames to create a similar academy in Tampa, Fla., with teams set to compete in the USL PDL, W-League and Super-20 League in 2012 and USL PRO in 2013.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced today that Jesse Symons has been named new head coach of the club’s women’s team and Girls Elite program. As per club policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed. Symons, 30, returns to Whitecaps FC after previously serving as head coach of the Whitecaps FC Prospects program from 2006 to 2010.

Less than a week after being selected with the No. 1 pick of the Women’s Professional Soccer draft, former Vancouver Whitecaps Women standout and 2011 USL W-League Rookie of the Year Sydney Leroux has been called up to the U.S. Women’s National Team squad to play at the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament. For Leroux, it will be a return to the Pacific Northwest with the tournament being played at Vancouver’s B.C. Place, home of Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps.

Led by former Vancouver Whitecaps Women standout Sydney Leroux, who was selected with the No. 1 overall pick by the Atlanta Beat, the USL W-League saw another strong contingent of players selected in Friday’s 2012 Women’s Professional Soccer Draft, held in Kansas City, Mo. Eleven of the 23 players selected had previously played in the W-League. Leroux, who was the 2011 W-League Rookie of the Year and an All-League selection, was the third consecutive W-League alumna taken with the first pick of the WPS Draft, following the Pali Blues duo of Tobin Heath and Alex Morgan.

The U.S. Soccer Foundation, with the support of D.C. United Women, will set up an interactive area at the NBC4 Health and Fitness Expo to get children active using the sport of soccer. At the Expo, children will have the opportunity to play soccer, meet players from the D.C. United Women’s team, participate in arts and crafts and enter a raffle to win a special prize from the Foundation.