Meet the Junior's Coaches

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Joe Connelly - Head Coach for Dayton Boat Club and Women's Head Coach

Joe Connelly discovered rowing as a high school freshman after a very brief, failed attempt at a football career.  He found a home at the Cincinnati Juniors Rowing Club (CJRC) throughout high school and began coaching there as a freshman in college. During his time with CJRC, Joe coached both Novice Boys and Girls to numerous regional championships and served on the staff for Development Camps which won consecutive Royal Canadian Henleys.

Joe joined the Dayton Boat Club (DBC) in 2016 as the Head Novice Coach before transitioning to Girls Varsity Coach in 2018 and then DBC Head Coach in 2019. He has coached many girls’ crews to both regional championships and the grand finals at Youth Nationals. Recently, Joe has also served as a staff and assistant coach for several Youth Regional Challenges and a Selection Development Camp.

​Joe is a veteran who served in the United States Marine Corps from 2003 until 2012 and deployed twice to Iraq. He has traveled the world and held various instructor and team leadership roles while in the service. He currently lives in Dayton with his son and enjoys wrestling with small outboard motors. taking over gym classes to teach rowing, devising creative shell repairs, obsessing over weather and river conditions, and all the other little things rowing coaches do to keep their clubs afloat.

Joe is a USRowing Level 3 Certified Coach and the DBC Safety Officer.


Ben Sobiech - Head Men's Coach

Coach Ben grew up in Westerville, Ohio where he competed in wrestling for Westerville North High School and rowing for Westerville Rowing Club.   After high school, Ben rowed for Mercyhurst College and joined the US Navy.  Following college, Ben moved home to Westerville and spent a couple of years coaching rowing for Westerville Crew and Denison University, and coaching wrestling for Westerville North.  After a deployment with the Navy, Ben moved to Dayton where he met his wife Candi, and restarted his coaching career at GDRA.  He joined the Dayton Boat Club coaching staff in the fall of 2018 and began coaching the DBC boys in the fall of 2020.  Ben and Candi live in Englewood with their three dogs, and Ben works as a contractor on Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

Ben is a USRowing Level 2 Certified Coach.


Nate Kaval - Men's Coach

Nate grew up as a military brat and went from Florida, Maryland, Ohio, and Arizona, back to Ohio and began rowing in 2015 as a freshman in high school at GDRA. He attended Oakwood High School and graduated with the class of 2019. He primarily sculled in the quad and lightweight doubles events. In the summer of 2018 when GDRA Juniors disbanded he joined Dayton Boat Club. By the end of that summer starting his senior year he was asked to be a team captain. He went on to qualify for Nationals in the quad event in the spring of 2019. Nate focused more on his studies and graduated from Penn State in May of 2023. Wanting to give back to the club that welcomed him in with open arms and his joy for rowing, Nate joined the coaching staff of Dayton Boat Club in the Fall of 2023. He resides in Oakwood and works as a software engineer for a defense contractor in Beavercreek.

Nate is a USRowing Level 1 Certified Coach.

Spencer Mullins - Men's Coach

Spencer began rowing in 2012 as an 8th grader at GDRA. He sculled through high school at GDRA while attending Chaminade Julienne and  qualified for youth nationals 3 times in the lightweight double, winning the event at Midwest in 2016 and helping GDRA secure the boy’s sculling team points trophy that year. Spencer continued his rowing career at Purdue University for their club team for 2 years before retiring from competitive rowing to focus on his studies. Spencer joined DBC as a coach in the late winter of 2023. 
Spencer resides in Dayton and works as a test engineer for Leonardo DRS in Beavercreek and focuses on testing and troubleshooting EW systems and Naval Link-11/22 radio modems.

Spencer is a USRowing Level 2 Certified Coach.

Scott Braum - Women's Coach

Scott comes to the DBC staff as the parent of a former DBC rower who has graduated from college and is now coaching in Ann Arbor.  He has spent a lifetime involved in every aspect of youth sports from athlete to parent to coach to booster to administrator.  While he has a passion for youth sports in general, he has seen firsthand the impact that rowing can have on a child’s life, whether he or she is a gifted natural athlete or a scrappy kid with a big heart who just won’t quit.  He believes that rowing offers each athlete an opportunity to learn things about themselves and others both on and off the water.  When his daughter came home from Learn To Row years ago, she told him she wanted to quit everything she was doing in order to row.  That, of course, sounded crazy.  Now, however, after several years, countless thousands of miles, who knows how many scorching, freezing, and storming races, and his own inglorious rowing career, he is thrilled to have the opportunity to continue the craziness by giving something back to the sport that has impacted his family in so many ways.     

Scott is a USRowing Level 1 Certified Coach.   

Sara Bauersfeld - Women's Coach

Before discovering rowing, Sara spent years playing basketball and learning from coaches who knew how to teach, mentor, and motivate players. She stumbled into rowing at the invitation from a friend in college which led her to the University of Kansas, where she fell in love with the sport rowing for the women's crew team for two years.
Sara spent her summers in college with the Girl Scouts at camps on the Lake of the Ozarks as a lifeguard, archery instructor, and trek leader. She encouraged girls to embrace adventure on water and land and to face new challenges with undaunted spirits. Joining the DBC coaching staff in 2023, Sara has come full circle and enjoys the opportunity to merge her love for rowing with the mentorship of young athletes.
In her life outside of rowing parent and coach, Sara is an ER nurse who enjoys spending time with her family and staying active.
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Sara is a USRowing Level 1 Certified Coach

Hannah Richardson - Women's Coach

Hannah started her rowing career with what was originally to be a summer Learn to Row program in 8th grade. After falling in love with the sport and team dynamic, her career continued through high school where she competed at Club Nationals and went on to row for the University of Louisville graduating in 2018. Following graduation, Hannah moved to Nashville to start her accounting career as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Shortly after starting her job, she pursued a pilot’s license and went on to commission with the U.S. Air Force. Hannah currently resides in Dayton, OH where she is an accountant by day and C-17 pilot by night! While she is new to coaching, Hannah hopes to bring energy and excitement to the team and wants to help motivate the rowers to achieve whatever goals they have set on and off the water!