Hotel Discounts for Memorial Weekend AYTTO National Championships

Holiday Inn Express

PongSpace has secured an agreement with the Holiday Inn Express just 10 minutes walking distance from the West Monroe Sports and Events Center (West Monroe, LA) for an exceptional rate of $129 per room per night during the weekend of Friday 5/23 to Monday 5/26.  We have a block for 20 rooms only and reservations must be made by 5/1. If you are planning to attend the championships, make your reservation here.

Fairfield Inn & Suites West Monroe

PongSpace has secured 20 rooms at the Fairfield Inn & Suites West Monroe which is conveniently located 5 minutes away from the Championships site (West Monroe Sports and Events Center). The room rate is $139 per room per night during the weekend of Friday 5/23 to Monday 5/26. Reservations must be made by May 2 so if you are planning to attend the National Championships, make your reservation here.

• Article from PongSpace's Newsletter (with permission to re-print here)

May 28, 2025

Dear Pongers,

Over the weekend, players from coast to coast convened at the brand new West Monroe Sports and Events Center in Louisiana to compete in the Season 3 George Braithwaite Major League Table Tennis Championship and the AYTTO National Scholastic Championship. The competition was intense and even the local TV affiliates from NBC and Fox had special coverage of both events. On Friday, local community and volunteers helped the PongSpace team meticulously set up the venue from scratch, tested the nets and barriers, and assembled the 16 new Stiga tables in record time! Many thanks to Scott Bruscato, Jamie Johnson and their team from West Monroe.

On Saturday, the GBML Championships kicked off the weekend’s hot action with New York’s top ranked team, Thomas & Friends facing off against the best of Texas (DFWTT Red) in the group play. Without its top two players, Thomas & Friends fought a good fight with many close games, but eventually lost out to the Texans. 

DFWTTC Gold and DFWTTC Red emerged as the top two teams from Group One, and faced NYISC (NY) and the Texas Lone Star TTC (Austin, TX) from Group Two in the semi-finals. Once the DFWTTC Red reached the semi-finals, the team was boosted by the arrival of the league’s top player, Keith Pech (who took a red eye from Hawaii to Dallas and drove 5 hours to West Monroe!). Pech’s presence became critical for the team once teammate Michael Cheng suffered a bicep injury during his valiant effort and win against the chopper Sho Miyazaki of NYISC. Cheng’s victory (3-2) elevated DFWTTC Red to the finals against the Texas Lone Star TTC.  

In the finals, the young Neave Joy of Texas Lone Star TTC (who is half the size of his opponent) surprised everyone with his determination and will. But in the end, it was Brazilian import Iago Bittencourt who was able to hold court and ultimately helped DFWTTC Red become Champions of GBML Season 3! We would like to make a special mention for Kai Song of the Texas Lone Star TTC for being a true big brother to little Neave by always encouraging the latter on every point. Kai represents the true spirit of the GBML, and he would make the “Chief” George Braithwaite proud. Congratulations to the two Texas teams—you represented the Lone Star State superbly!  

Watch highlights of the GBML Finals here!
 

Before the GBML Finals, players were treated to the first ever Peaka Pong Tournament in Louisiana. The reception was phenomenal as spectators who were sitting all day were able to compete with top athletes like Dhruv Dusad and Keith Pech from DFWTTC. After four rounds of Swiss format play, undefeated Keith Pech and Andy Nguyen met in the Peaka Pong Finals. Despite his wearied state, Keith proved too much for Andy to handle with an easy 3-0 win. Not a bad reward for traveling 15 hours to capture both the Peaka Pong and the GBML Team titles! 

Watch the Peaka Pong Finals here!

On Sunday, the student athletes took center stage to showcase their talent at the AYTTO National Scholastic Championships. The tournament welcomed students from Mill Creek, WA, who became the first team from the Pacific Northwest to join the AYTTO Nationals action. 

The favored middle school competitors of Hunter College Campus School (New York, NY) defeated the Great Neck South Middle School (Long Island, NY) for the Middle School Championships as expected. However, the High School division was full of suspense… 

The underdog San Gabriel Academy Eagles (San Gabriel, CA) led by Liam Guadiz and Leo Liu edged out the favorite Great Neck South High School (Long Island, NY) by winning 11-9 in each of the first two singles matches in the 5th game. This set the tone for a 3-1 overall win in their semi-finals. In the other semi-finals, the favorite Coppell High School (Dallas, TX) defeated NYC’s best high school team, Brooklyn Technical 3-1, and set up a showdown between Texas and California. This made for a finals competition that was highly entertaining and worthwhile.

Despite losing the first and second singles matches, the San Gabriel Eagles fought hard and took the Coppell Cowboys to five games in second, third and fourth matches. In the fourth match, Cowboy Dhruve Dusad overpowered his Eagle opponent Leo Liu by winning 11-9 in the fifth game, bringing the Coppell Cowboys their first National Title. Congratulations to Cowboys coach Scott Ryan for guiding the winning team and Eagles coach Sean Lehnoff for taking a team who didn’t come out of the group play last year to the finals this year. Well done!  

Watch the AYTTO HS Team Finals (Match 2) here!

Watch the AYTTO HS Team Finals (Match 3) here! 

Watch the AYTTO HS Team Finals (Match 4) here! 

Scenes from the GBML Season 3 Championship and the AYTTO Scholastic Championship.

Congrats to the winners, many thanks to the organizers, coaches, parents, and supporters. Great job, everyone!