ARA Meeting Minutes
Big Updates
Board Member Updates
The elected Board Members for the most recent election are:
Luke Morgan
Dave Bresnick
Jai Srivastav
Jenn Barr
Thank you Edwin and Al for all of your service as board members!
WRC 2028 Announced to be in NYC!
Working Group Updates
2028 WRC Qualification Cycle
Qualification cycle approved by ARA assembly, submitted to the WRC committee
Tech
2028 cycle points are reflected in the Database
Plans to get pro organizations seen, as well as redoing tournament entry for better user experience
Plan to add better Search Engine Optimization to help 1-day tournaments and events get more visibility
Doublecheck your state on your profile and make sure it is accurate
Coding meeting times changing, stay tuned
Communications
Made an etiquette guide to WRC players on how to be a decent person at events. Got it all in a document and emailed it to all 2025 ARA participants. 2028 cycle information is posted.
Made a temporary ranking system to give the Tech WG some time to get it on the website. Full system will be added in the future, stay tuned.
Making privacy policy to put on website
US Rankings
US rankings is currently discussing what we can borrow from other existing reaching systems, but we didn't have anything to report yet to the assembly!
Education
Etiquette guide for USA. Compiling etiquette guide atm. Send positive and negative experiences to Luke!
After we can adapt it to ARA Opens
Professional Organizations
World Riichi Pros
WPM officially released its class 1 professionals. Hard opening soon! Sign up now!
Does being a WPM pro have any restrictions?
Some limitations occur where you officially represent yourself with WPM pro status. Does not limit you from using any online client, and is an official agreement
Saikouisen
June 14th was the 50th season Saikouisen Pro Exam. There are now 34 Saikouisen pros in the US! Some of those include Saikouisen Trainees who still need to pass the written exam next year.
The Saikouisen league started last Sunday and VODs for the event will come out shortly
List of Saikouisen US pros: https://www.saikouisen-usa.com/members/
ARML
Season is going on, you can still sign up for future seasons!
Reminder that ARML gives 4 seats to the invitational that are not already part of the top 60.
Rules and judging
Will start handling observer reports
Community engagement
How to get more people registered for the ARA website?
3 weeks in Japan! So many photos!
Talk about US players’s experience with WRC.
Mahjong podcast? People would be interested in hearing a podcast about riichi. If you would be interested in being interviewed, send Laura a DM!
Round table discussions, hopefully by the end of august
5 seats left for the North Texas Tournament! Registration close[d]s in 48 hours
Charity
Pride month open was a huge success. $3300 raised and 264 sign ups. Thanks ARA for the support!
Other Business
Registration for the Seattle Open 2025 is open!
2028 cycle will likely get us more seats. Discussion on how to handle a huge increase in seats at a later date
Closed Session
Post WRC Discussion
US players left great impressions
After some debate, ARA will be requesting WRC to have an official alternate procedure for extra seats that pop up
Tournaments to Certify
Seattle needs small changes then can be approved
Toronto approved after changes were made
Two clubs applied to Assembly, votes going out
Goals and Objectives meeting to be held for board members at later date
National Tournament WG to be put on hold for the moment
Optional ‘Office Hours’ to be held for board members for discussion with US players
Aiming for first one to be August 11th!
People can think of what we can do if we get more than 32 seats to WRC 2028 (unlikely). Will do more with suggestions in August meeting