SYNOPSIS:

The Referee’s Count at seven, the Arena crowd screams for SEAN to “get up.” Will he, can he beat the count? Several years earlier, twice-divorced forty-something year old SEAN KELLEY plays “chicken” with rush hour traffic out of downtown Baltimore with feisty, no-holds barred girlfriend MARY EVANS screaming expletives in the passenger seat. What she sees in him one has to wonder. Surely it isn’t the sex, after which, we’ll soon see, he cries like a baby, traumatized still from….what? The man is deeply scarred. Either a glutton for punishment or an earthbound Angel, Mary ultimately convinces Sean to put pride aside and move in with her and her ten year old son, PATRICK in order to ease his financial burden yes, but also to enable him to give his writing more than the occasional reflective moments he complains to not have enough of. Life takes on new meaning with deeper insight into what is - and why - when Sean agrees to the Professional Counseling Mary stipulates. The more profound changes to his being occur when he steps inside Fitt Bodies Health Club for the first time, in need of a job to add structure to his days of writing. The serendipity proves to be both salve and salt to the wounds of his past. Not at first, of course, for then the story would end too quickly and we wouldn’t get to meet Pat’s family, or know the why Sean is distant from his. The Fitt Bodies Health Club is outgrowing its walls. Members wish for a “new coat of paint, and a sauna that doesn’t break down daily.” Many of the Members, die-hard hangers on from the club’s early glory days blame the sudden lack of attention to detail on Vincent’s “spending our dues on the ponies.” The glitzy promises of The M.E.X., a state of the art facility new to the neighborhood tempts loyalty. Several Aerobics Instructors have joined the exercise exodus. Personal Trainer KONRAD SAMPSON’S Cardio Boxing Classes disturb memories Sean had hoped to never again recall. When his workouts transform from the classic cardio and weights to pugilistic in nature, one secret of his past is confirmed, most obviously when he joins in on round-robin sparring sessions. After several weeks of sparring, our once-tentative hero confidently dreams up The Marathon of Boxing, an attempt to remain competitive against the influx of hi-tech, micro-managed Fitness Centers. Thirteen Cardio Boxing class participants will face off against Konrad and Sean for one round each, a total of twenty-six rounds. Weeks of training for the event hone Sean’s now obvious boxing skills as he and Konnie prepare boxing clients to be their opponents. On the eve of the big show, Connie falls hard on his ankle playing basketball, and guess who will go twenty-six rounds alone? Yep, the same Irish Sean Kelley who needs to overcome the shame of being knocked out in his last 2 fights as a Professional middleweight fifteen years earlier. Ah, but life and love have a way of working miracles. And they do here, just as the Fitt Body motto asserts, “If you think you can – you might.”

BORN TO BE A TOWEL BOY