{"id":21082,"date":"2025-11-28T12:52:55","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T17:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/?post_type=wfsu-news&p=21082"},"modified":"2025-11-28T13:41:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T18:41:08","slug":"groundbreaking-for-tonja-and-charlie-wards-champions-ranch-takes-place-this-monday-morning","status":"publish","type":"wfsu-news","link":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/groundbreaking-for-tonja-and-charlie-wards-champions-ranch-takes-place-this-monday-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundbreaking for Tonja and Charlie Ward’s Champions Ranch takes place this Monday morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

After years of dreaming, planning and fund-raising, Tallahassee’s Champions Ranch project has its formal ground breaking at 9 a.m. Monday, Dec. 1. The idea is to provide kids and their families positive experiences that would otherwise be unavailable.<\/p>\n

The 112-acre site south of Capital Circle between Tram Road and Woodville Highway is a blank canvas of sand and scrub brush now. But Tonja Ward, wife of FAMU Head Basketball Coach Charlie Ward and co-director of Champions Ranch, says all that’s about to change.<\/p>\n

“We have been working on this for so long. We still have a long way to go but we are celebrating every moment along the way and the $9 million mark meant that we can break ground on the first multi-sport field.”<\/p>\n

Eventually, she says, there will be many muti-sport fields along with facilities for all manner of fun and faith-based activities to enrich the lives of thousands of kids. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 WFSU<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[],"tags":[1136,1135],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGroundbreaking for Tonja and Charlie Ward's Champions Ranch takes place this Monday morning - WFSU Local Routes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/groundbreaking-for-tonja-and-charlie-wards-champions-ranch-takes-place-this-monday-morning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Groundbreaking for Tonja and Charlie Ward's Champions Ranch takes place this Monday morning - WFSU Local Routes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The massive development will eventually include multiple varieties of athletic facilities as well as a holistic approach to cultivating healthy and well-developed young people.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/groundbreaking-for-tonja-and-charlie-wards-champions-ranch-takes-place-this-monday-morning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WFSU Local Routes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-28T18:41:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/groundbreaking-for-tonja-and-charlie-wards-champions-ranch-takes-place-this-monday-morning\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/groundbreaking-for-tonja-and-charlie-wards-champions-ranch-takes-place-this-monday-morning\/\",\"name\":\"Groundbreaking for Tonja and Charlie Ward's Champions Ranch takes place this Monday morning - 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