Age: 20s Hometown: Lafayette, CA

Text: When the other team draws a penalty, the entirety of the NHL San Jose Sharks hockey fans in the rink do a shark chomping motion with their hands.

Context: Participant and I were watching hockey and they starting do a hand motion in celebration . She is a lifelong sharks hockey fan, with her parents being season ticket holders. She does this hand motion out in the wild too when she runs into other fans and want’s to show solidarity.

Analysis: This is an example of folk gesture and kinetic folklore within a sports subculture. The shark chomp is a ritualized performance that unifies thousands of strangers into a single sharks fan folk group through synchronized movement. The participant mentioned that it also serves to bring up the energy for the upcoming powerplay and intimidate the other fans/teams with the sheer amount of people participating. It also serves as an in-group signal for other sharks fans outside of the usual performance space- the ‘shark tank’ hockey rink.