FSU Center Partners with Champions Ranch to Expand Rebound & Recovery

The Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children, a part of the FSU College of Social Work, is partnering with Charlie Ward Champions Ranch, a 109-acre campus founded by Charlie and Tonja Ward, to bring the Center’s Rebound & Recovery program into Champions Ranch programming.

Rebound & Recovery is a practical, skills-based program rooted in cognitive-behavioral strategies that help children and adolescents strengthen emotional regulation, coping skills, and confidence. Through the new partnership, the program will be incorporated into Champions Ranch athletics, coach development, wellness activities, and caregiver engagement.

Champions Ranch broke ground on December 1, 2025, and is a place where families can access athletics alongside enrichment and support services. On the Champions Ranch Foundation’s website, Tonja Ward states that the goal is to create a place where children and families can grow “physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually,” with mentoring, support services and skill-building working together.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Charlie Ward shared the long path behind the project and thanked those who helped shape the vision, “It has been a lot of trials and tribulations and meetings and vision casting… A lot of people have poured into this vision, and we are grateful for them.”

Rebound & Recovery, developed by the Stoops CFC Center, is already used in early childhood education classrooms, in Boys and Girls Clubs of the Big Bend, and Leon County Schools. The curriculum teaches simple tools young people can practice in real time—naming emotions, settling their bodies under stress, working through problems and building confidence and persistence. The partnership will extend those tools across Champions Ranch programs, reaching youth participants and the adults who support them day to day—coaches, mentors, and caregivers.

“Champions Ranch is building more than athletic fields; it is creating a culture of belonging, support, and opportunity,” said Tai Cole, associate director of the Stoops CFC Center and developer of Rebound & Recovery. “Integrating Rebound & Recovery into this space means young people, coaches, and caregivers will have concrete tools to manage emotions, strengthen resilience, and build the kind of internal confidence that carries into every area of life.”

Ellen Piekalkiewicz, executive director of the Stoops CFC Center, sees the partnership as a good fit, aligning with the center’s focus on strengthening child and family well-being through community-based, evidence-informed work.

Champions Ranch serves families across the region, with a particular emphasis on expanding access for underserved communities. Planned features include multipurpose fields, the Champions Café, education and enrichment spaces, wellness programming, and mentorship opportunities.

Through Rebound & Recovery integration, participants can expect:

• Youth lessons and activities that build emotional regulation and resilience
• Coaching support and tools that help adults reinforce skills during practices and daily routines
• Caregiver resources and workshops to carry strategies into the home
• Structured, team-based activities that strengthen confidence, cooperation, and self-control

As Champions Ranch prepares for its first phase of operations in 2026, the Stoops CFC Center will work alongside Ranch leadership to weave mental health skill-building into youth development programming so young people and the adults around them share clear, consistent tools they can use every day.