SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For 30 years, on the first day of the new year, members of the Fair Oaks Dolphins swim team have honored a tradition: jumping in Lake Natoma at dawn.
While it's not a traditional polar bear plunge, meaning subfreezing water- it may as well be, for the water they’re about to enter was indeed snow recently. And it was fed immediately by the neighboring Sierras.
Dominic DelliQuadri, the team's assistant coach, is grateful to continue the tradition, despite the issues they’ve endured as a team during the pandemic.
He says, “there’s something special about starting off your day with something very challenging and makes everything else that comes a lot easier…so this is basically just a bigger version of that, starting off the year overcoming adversity. If you can do this, you do anything this year!”
Of course, due to the freezing temperatures, they jumped right out.