Coaches
Ellis Evans-Brown (he/Him)
Ellis started rowing for UNH in 2002. After his novice year he took up rowing the single and began rowing, working and coaching for the Drehers in their factory in NH. In 2005 he was US under-23 singles champion and silver in the club single at the Head of the Charles, rowing for the Durham Boat Club. After College he moved to New York from 2007-2011 and rowed for the New York Athletic Club. In that time he won US club nationals in the quad three times in 2008 and 2009, and in the double in 2009. Also they took gold twice at Canadian Henley in the quad in 2008-2009.
Ellis began his coaching in New York with the Pelham Community Rowing Association in 2007. In 2008 he was promoted to head masters coach and assistant head coach for the junior team. In 2010 Ellis began working for Community Rowing Inc. with the novice boys. In his time at CRI he coached everyone from adaptive rowers to masters learn to row and everyone in between and left the CRI as the assistant head varsity boys coach.
In 2014 Ellis began work with Boston Latin School as the assistant girls coach. The following year he helped to reinstitute the boys rowing team for the school and was the head coach until 2020.
Kelsey Anderson (She/Her)
Kelsey Anderson joined ABCrew in Fall 2022 as the Novice Boys coach.
Kelsey Anderson was born into a rowing family, and began coxing at the beginning of High School for Oakland Strokes in California. She was recruited to UMass by Olympic rower & coach Jim Dietz, and continued to cox at a high level in college. She has had the opportunity to race with UMass at NCAA's, IRA's and at Women's Henley over the course of her college career. She stayed at UMass for her Masters and volunteer coached during the year while earning her Masters in Political Science.
In the summers she coaches for Ready Set Row as both a rowing and a coxswain coach, and has focused on building a manual for developing coxswains in their early careers. When not rowing (or talking about rowing!) she likes to read history books and go for runs.
Clara Babbott-Ward (they/Them)
Clara started their rowing career at Wayland-Weston High School. Captain of both novice and varsity squads, they fell in love with rowing and got recruited to Wesleyan University, competing in the Varsity 8+ at NCAAs all 4 years and taking gold at the Charles in the Collegiate 8+ back in 2016. Clara served as head coach at St. Mark’s School for 2 years, and is now thrilled to be on AB Crew. When Clara isn’t coaching at AB, they are coaching the paraplegic team at CRI, teaching music at Excel Academy, hiking, writing music, singing in their acappella group, hosting open mics, and hanging out with their fish named Beep and Susan.
Kelly Houston (they/Them)
My rowing career began when I was a freshman in high school. I started rowing at Arlington Belmont for my first three years before transitioning to CRI. Following this, I was recruited to a Division 1 program at UMass Amherst, where I rowed for 3.5 years before graduating a semester early. During the past few summers I have coached at DBMS crew, the Olympic Development Program in Jacksonville, FL, and Community Rowing Incorporated (CRI). When I’m not on the water I really enjoy long walks, playing with pets, and maybe a little cooking here and there. I look forward to continuing my coaching journey at Arlington Belmont and beyond!
