The "Stadia," or "Stade" refers to an ancient Greek unit of measurement of about 185 meters that was the designated distance of the earliest sprint race in the classical Greek games (such as the Olympic games).  The viewing arena, or stadium, surrounded the markers that set the boundaries for the stadia.  Winning this race was in many ways the pinnacle of achievement for an elite athlete in the classical world.  As such, the existence of the race itself was well-known and part of common Greek parlance. 

Next to the Olympic Games, the Isthmian Games in ancient Corinth were the most famous in the ancient world.  Held every two years in honor of Poseidon, these games originated around 580 B.C. and continued until the late 300's A.D.  Corinth itself, situated on a narrow isthmus that connects mainland Greece on the north to Peloponnesia in the south, was founded around 6000 B.C. and was at one point a Greek city state that rivaled Athens in importance.  The Romans completely destroyed the city in 146 B.C., and it was rebuilt on the authority of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. (shortly before he was assassinated), as a place to relocate retiring Roman soldiers and freemen who wanted land, but could not obtain it in Italy.  By the latter half of Augustus' rule, Corinth had become a cosmopolitan city known for commerce and for an "anything goes" lifestyle. 

In his first letter to the fledgling Christian church in Corinth, probably written around the mid-50's AD, the Apostle Paul speaks to the difficulty of maintaining a Christ-oriented lifestyle in a place like Corinth, which was an ongoing issue for the church.  To drive home the point that to live the Christian life required training, stamina and dedication, Paul used an analogy to the Stadia, describing the lengths that an athlete who is preparing to compete in this event will go to, and suggesting that the Christian walk should be no different.  In I Corinthians 9:23-27, Paul says: 

"Even though I'm free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people:  religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized -- whoever.  I didn't take on their way of life.  I kept my bearings in Christ -- but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view.  I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life.  I did all of this because of the message.....You've all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race.  Everyone runs; one wins.  Run to win.  All good athletes train hard.  They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades.  You're after one that's gold eternally.  I don't know about you, but I'm running hard for the finish line.  I'm giving it everything I've got."

We believe that the concept of the race is a great analogy for life.  Just as an athlete struggles to be the best that he or she can be, we can take that same spirit and apply it to our daily lives -- at home, at school, in business.  In fact, the gospel of Jesus Christ demands it of us.  At Stadia Sports Medicine, we honor that spirit through our name, because it's in the struggle to build character, through countless daily small battles in a life being marked for Christ, that we truly find ourselves.

"NOT THE VICTORY BUT THE ACTION; NOT THE GOAL BUT THE GAME; IN THE DEED, THE GLORY"