Philip Kellerman graduated from Stellenberg High School near Cape Town, South Africa before attending Stellenbosch University where he completed his bachelor’s degree in commercial accounting. It was while attending Stellenbosch University that he started coaching rugby. First at Paul Roos Gimnasium, a famous rugby school in Stellenbosch, and then at the University where he would spend 8 years with some of the best coaches and players in the country.  Kellerman won two titles with ‘koshuis’ (residence) teams and coached U19, U20 and senior sides of the club in his time there. His U19B side remarkably beat the club’s U19A side to win the Western Province U20 league.

After an extended time at Stellenbosch University, Coach Kellerman got the opportunity to work for the Eastern Province Rugby Union as a technical advisor to the senior provincial team, U21s, U19s and U18s. He then returned to Stellenbosch to contribute to the establishment of a rugby academy in the University town in collaboration with the Western Province Rugby Union.

Kellerman was hired as the head coach of the then Portuguese champion club team, Agronomia, at the age of 28. During his time in Portugal, Kellerman would also coach two of Portugal’s other top clubs, Cascais and Belenenses. Kellerman’s extended stay in Portugal came to a climax when he and other rugby lovers started a rugby club in the Sintra Municipality, just outside of the capital city, Lisbon. Today it is called Ubuntu Rugby.

After Portugal, Kellerman spent 6 months in California coaching the Ventura County Outlaws before returning to South Africa for a few years where coached at high school level. He then took the Head Coach job at Los Troncos Rugby Club in Concepcion, Chile, where led the team to the semifinal and final of the national club competition.

Kellerman joined Principia College in the fall of 2022 and led the team to the NCR Division II 15s national championship in the same year. The Thunder Chickens then moved up to Division I in 2023, finishing as the Big Rivers Conference runner-up and making a run to the 15s national quarterfinals.

Curriculum Vitae
Philip Kellerman CV