Welcome!

Hello! My name is Jarod Huhtala, and on behalf of APPA, welcome! My colleague, Miguel Klassen, and I have worked really hard over the past year to create this company, and while some things have changed from when we started, our core idea has stayed the same: we want to help individuals participate in more physical activity.

Where it all began, and why?

Our idea came about during a class project. Miguel and I were enrolled in adapted physical activity at Mount Royal University, and one of our assignments for this class was creating an innovative idea in the disability-community. The initial idea was to create something to keep children, of all ability-levels, active through a time where services and programs were not available (the COVID-19 pandemic).

We knew that there was something to be done during that troubling time, so our idea was to create an ability profile for individuals, and with that information, we would be able to tailor an activity box for the consumer. Inside these boxes would be; a collection of toys, accessories, games, and activities, all hand picked to fulfil the needs/goals of the specific child. Through almost a year long process, many pivots, and the help of mentors, professors, and even fellow students, APPA came to be in early 2021.

What impact do we envision having?

Our goal, as a company, is to improve the quality of life for children and youth, by aiding their development of skills and abilities through uniquely curated, and personalized adaptive experiences.

At the same time, we hope to gift parents and caregivers some peace of mind with affordable and convenient products, in order to help their kids and teens be successful, but more importantly, have fun!

Going forward, we intend on being as transparent as possible. We will continue to update this section of the website so that you can stay up to date on what we’re doing. We intend on adding new sections to this website to make it more community-friendly, and hopefully in the future, we want to be a sort-of hub for adapted physical activity.

What are our unique qualifications?

As athletic therapists, we have a very close skill set to physiotherapists that work with people of all abilities. Although our education focuses a lot more on musculoskeletal injuries, we have taken a large range of courses that have taught us about physical growth and development, motor learning, movement education, rehabilitation, and of course, adapted physical activity. We are a very activity-and-movement based profession, and although our experience so far has been primarily with athletes, we are trained to help everyone live an active life wherever their ability level lies.

Our program, Health and Physical Education, requires that we take a certain number of courses based on physical literacy. Physical literacy is how your body learns to move around in space, and in relation to physical activity, physical literacy is something that we both believe is very important for people of all ages. Our goal is to help people be active for life!

~Jarod Huhtala, Co-Founder