Football Canada's Junior National Team kicked off its June 23-28 training camp in Austin over the weekend to prepare for three games in eight days, beginning on Saturday June 30 at 5pm local time against Sweden.

The Junior National Team is led by head coach Noel Thorpe, a veteran CFL coach with both the Edmonton Eskimos and Montreal Alouettes who is currently the defensive coordinator at Université de Montréal.

"Our players and coaches are excited for the start of training camp," said Thorpe. "We have been looking forward to this opportunity since the selection process started in April. On Friday, players and coaches from across Canada will come together as a team for the first time."

"We have five days of training camp to lay the foundation of our Offense, Defense and Special Teams, and prepare for our opening round game against Sweden".

Canada is the defending silver medalist from the inaugural 2009 IFAF Junior World Championship, held in Canton, Ohio. The 2009 roster included 2012 CFL draftees Kirby Fabian (#7 by BC), Carson Rockhill (#13 by Hamilton), Jake Thomas (#29 by Winnipeg) as well as current CIS standouts Jérémi Roch (Sherbrooke), Matt Sewell (McMaster) and Steven Lumbala (Calgary).

Follow Football Canada's Junior National Team on Twitter, twitter.com/FootballCanada as well as on Facebook, facebook.com/FootballCanada. Get in the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #FCJNT12.