ABOUT

An organised school basketball structure for girls, in South Africa, has its roots in Pietermaritzburg. 

Basketball was developed as a school sport in the late 1970s and most of the top local schools were actively involved in the age-group leagues. Similar leagues were springing up around the country. 

In 1981, the first Inter-Provincial Tournament was hosted in Pietermaritzburg. It attracted teams from a number of provinces, and the standard of play was remarkable for such a new sport. In 1992 the first Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School Invitational Tournament was launched. For the first few years only teams from KwaZulu-Natal entered, but it was not long before it became a most sought-after tournament, attracting top teams from schools across the country, and Zimbabwe. 

In order to accommodate the best teams, but also cater for development in the sport, the tournament has an A-section and a B-section. Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School 1st Team has been the champion team 23 out of the 28 years it has been staged. Other stalwarts that have excelled over the years include: Pretoria High School for Girls and Lereko Secondary School (FS). 

In 2015, the tournament was named, ‘The Val Fowler Basketball Tournament’ in recognition of Val’s role in the establishment of schoolgirls’ basketball and the staging of this premier annual tournament, as well as her achievements in coaching many winning teams, in a lifetime of coaching.