SULLIVAN COUNTY — In Pedro Tweed’s new children’s book – “The Gymnastics Adventures of Coach Tweed” – the author discusses themes of encouragement, love, support and life lessons.

The author is a gymnastics coach by trade. The first of his children’s books, the inspiration comes from his experience in over 40-plus years of coaching and directly working with so many different children, learning and dealing with a wide range of personalities, emotions and mental blocks.

Tweed had also previously worked on a book called “Freeway” which is aimed at teens and young adults. Both of his books took roughly one month to make, and are described as “very short” by the author.

“Each page is purposely short because it’s easier for both children and young adults to digest short paragraphs one page at a time,” explained Tweed.

Tweed is a strong advocate for tirelessly encouraging teaching, as well as teaching from a place of love, no matter how difficult the challenges. It’s because of this that there are strong themes of perseverance, encouragement and respect in this new book and series to come.

He also describes this book as a tool not just for coaching, but for anyone who instructs and works with children. 

“Overcoming obstacles, mental blocks and learning to reset your mind are a part of life and can be applied to many life experiences. This is a great teaching tool,” says Tweed.

In terms of life advice for children, there is a moment in the book where a character, Allison, receives her competition number which is “666.” 

She gets upset because its a “bad luck number.” The coach tells her that if she turns her hand upside-down, it reads “999.”

According to Tweed, getting a 9.99 in gymnastics is an excellent score to achieve. Because of this, Allison’s mind was reset.

Tweed attributes his successes to the respect he shows his students.

“So many past gymnasts send letters and messages to me to share how they applied the lessons they learned in the gym in their life’s journey. To me that is what it’s all about,” Tweed said. “My advice to anyone seeking to walk along a similar path [to myself] is to always teach with love. Children will remember you so let it be for something good.”