World-class sports facility in Fort Worth levels playing field with free training

Tucked behind the gates of a 150-acre ranch off I-20 in West Fort Worth lies a surprising sight: not cattle or horses, but world-class athletic facilities where the next generation of athletes are being shaped. 

At Athletic Performance Ranch, also known as AP Ranch, student athletes train on the same top-of-the-line track, courts and fields used by NFL Pros and Olympians, but the mission stretches far beyond sports. 

Mentorship, education and character development at AP Ranch are seen as just as important as sprints and drills. And perhaps the most remarkable part of all, this life-changing training comes at no cost to the over 1,000 students who utilize it each week. 

Greg Scholars, director for AP Ranch and head of the track program, said the training seeks to set the students up for success in their sports, but also in life. 

“We pull them in with the ball and then we quickly pass them a book,” Scholars said. “The thought process is they’re not all going to make it to the NFL and all of them aren’t going to make it to major Division I universities. But, if we can go ahead and grab their attention with sports, and then fill in the gaps, show them where that same work ethic on the track or that same work ethic on the football field, when applied in the classroom, will have just as great results.”

AP Ranch, located in West Fort Worth.

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The training focuses on empowering students of all backgrounds and abilities to not be limited by their circumstances. 

“This is just one of those amazing places where kids have an opportunity to come and realize their dreams,” Scholars said. 

Young athletes get training in several sports

AP Ranch currently offers football, basketball, track and strength training programs. Each program is directed by coaches who have competed at the collegiate or professional level. It’s what sets their training apart and allows them to speak to students and parents from a place of experience. 

“Some of the biggest gaps we see are primarily just kids not knowing the options that are there available for them,” Scholars said. “It’s kind of like they know where they want to be, or they have an idea where they want to be, they just don’t necessarily know how to get there.” 

Scholars said exposure for these students is 95% of what can change their perspective and trajectory. 

The experience and connections AP Ranch has at the collegiate and professional level help to bridge those gaps and connect students with opportunities. In the last decade, they have produced more than 113 scholarship athletes. 

The training takes place in top-of-the-line facilities. 

“You probably aren’t going to go to many places in the SEC or the Big XII that have a greater facility than we do here,” Scholars says. 

Some days, the students train alongside current NFL professionals like Cam Ward and Travis Hunter, or run on the same track where numerous Olympians trained ahead of the 2024 Paris games. 

“We have, without a doubt, a world-class track,” Scholars said. “It’s a European style track with a gel surface measured to compete with any international track in the in the world.”

Kieran Hayward directs AP Ranch’s basketball program and said the basketball facility has hosted over 40 university athletic programs over the past year.    

Isaak Hayes, who trains at AP Ranch.

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“We’re fortunate to have bunk beds upstairs,” Hayward said. “So again, that one-stop-shop kind of motto. So, we’ll have teams come here, especially around the preseason. They’ll come here, stay, and invite other teams to come play them.”

Hayward said AP Ranch also hosted multiple NBA prospects ahead of the NBA draft. 

“We had NBA Combine training this past year,” Hayward said. “So, one of the agencies we work with, they were able to do all their NBA guys through here as they led up to the NBA draft.”

Professional talent which Hayward said the student athletes take notice of and often learn from. 

“It’s a lot of high talent, high-profile athletes out here,” Hayward said. “At AP Ranch, we try to put these kids on that path to success.” 

The football program, run by Foster Sawyer, a former quarterback at both Texas Christian University and Stephen F. Austin University, features quarterback training, one-on-one skills sessions and 7-on-7 teams. 

“Our 15 year-old team from the 7-on-7 world, which is off-season football, at one point were ranked, number one in the nation,” Sawyer says. 

Student athletes challenged on and off the field

Along with physical training, student’s grades are tracked, and meals and nutritional education are supplied, providing a one-stop-shop to satisfy any needs the students may have. 

“It’s really hard to get recruited to the next level,” Sawyer said. “So educating them and their parents on what it’s like to get recruited, to get school paid for, because at the end of the day, that’s what our main goal is to get school paid for.”

While the coaches know not all of the students at AP Ranch will get an athletic scholarship, the hope is the commitment and dedication the student’s have learned through their sport, will allow for other scholarship opportunities. 

“There are just as many opportunities for academic scholarships as there are for athletic scholarships,” Scholars said. “If you’re going to be excellent, it just doesn’t happen in one lane. The kids we’ve seen who are successful, they’re excellent in the community. They’re excellent in the classroom. They’re excellent in how they deal with their families. All those things are what really allowed them to be excellent on the playing field.”

Junior North Crowley basketball player, Isaak Hayes, trains off the court with Hayward at AP Ranch including in their 19,000 square foot state-of-the-art weight room. 

“I didn’t take the weight room serious,” Hayes said. “And like, it showed on the court.”

The training he’s doing in agility, stability and injury prevention at AP Ranch helping him receive offers from six universities like TCU and Kansas State University.

“I feel like it just shows me that, like, the work is paying off,” Hayes said. 

Senior Crowley High School runner, Zoe Johnson, said a track scholarship would be her pathway to college. But her training with Scholars goes beyond sprints.

“He’s trained me for track, but all of it, all of the extra things that he does for me, the conversations he has with me, the lessons he’s shown me and things like that have helped me for my outside life, helped me for when I grow up to be an adult and for when I’m taking on my career,” Johnson said. 

Education, mentorship and character development the real game-changers at AP Ranch. 

All athletes offered the same opportunity at no cost

“A lot of the parents, as you know, they’ll come out here and they’ll hear the whole spiel about what we do, and they’re, like, all excited, and they’re waiting for the catch,” Scholars said. “And the catch is, well, how much does it cost?”

Scholars said the training is free in order to help level the playing field for students of all backgrounds. 

“We want to give them a safe place where they can bring their kids, and they can get an opportunity to do those things that their their life just won’t afford,” Scholars said. 

“The value in providing a place like this is what it can do to transform the community, and the society, and how people do things around here,” Hayward said. 

As AP Ranch continues to grow, they hope to develop programs outside of athletics through a music and fine arts facility to be able to reach even more students with their programming. There are also plans for a $50 million expansion which is slated to include an Olympic-grade stadium, world-class fieldhouse and housing for 130 athletes and coaches. All plans that align with AP Ranch’s vision of being a national destination for competition, training and academic excellence.