Senior Master Matt Ransom
6th Dan Black Belt Taekwondo
1st Dan Black Belt Haidong Gumdo
Master Matt first began his Taekwondo journey learning the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) style before switching to the World Taekwondo (WT) style while still a colour belt and going on to earn his 1st Dan black belt in 1984. As he progressed through the belt levels, he competed in Kyorugi (fighting), Poomsae (patterns) and trained in Hapkido to widen his knowledge of Korean martial arts. Master Matt also practises the Korean sword martial art of Haidong Gumdo.
As an instructor, Master Matt has previously run successful clubs in Dunedin, Palmerston North and in 1997 established Auckland Taekwondo, which is still going strong under a talented group of skilled senior instructors and masters.
Over the decades, Master Matt has been actively involved in all aspects of WT style Taekwondo in New Zealand and internationally. He has coached numerous national champions, many of whom have represented New Zealand at the highest level. He has been the National Team Manager and Head of Team for the New Zealand representative team competing at many WT Senior Worlds, Junior Worlds, Oceania and Commonwealth Championships, to name just a few. He is also a founding member and has served on Boards across a range of organisations, including the governing bodies of Taekwondo New Zealand and Oceania Taekwondo Union.
Master Matt is an inductee of the New Zealand Martial Arts Hall of Fame (2009), Australian Martial Arts Hall of Fame and World Karate Union Hall of Fame (2012). He is a recipient of the ‘Century of Achievement in New Zealand Martial Arts Award’ presented by Fight Times magazine in 2000 along with only 19 other senior New Zealand Martial Arts exponents. Master Matt has also received 3 World Taekwondo Citations for his services to the development of WT & Olympic Taekwondo, and 2 World Taekwondo Headquarters Kukkiwon Commendations for outstanding services to the development of Taekwondo culture in New Zealand.
Master Matt gratefully acknowledges the Grandmasters he has been honoured to have trained under during his martial arts journey. In particular, pioneer Grandmasters’ Yong Taek Chung, Lee Jung Nam and Kim Tae Kyung. Having also traveled extensively overseas with the New Zealand National Team, he has trained with other national teams, coaches and international champions bringing back a wealth of knowledge and experience to impart on his own students.
In recent years, Master Matt has shifted his focus back to teaching and developing grassroots Taekwondo at a community level where his own journey first began. His objective at Seungri Taekwondo is to help foster the martial art, sport and culture of Taekwondo so it can be enjoyed by people of all ages and levels of ability. Master Matt is supported by a great group of members and their parents, along with his wife Hyunju (Grace) and daughter Rebecca, who also both practise Taekwondo.
Senior Instructor Johannes Visser
3rd Dan Black Belt Taekwondo
Johannes began his martial arts journey as a young teenager training in Karate and competing in Wrestling where he became a two time National Champion in South Africa. He started Taekwondo in 2013 when he was looking for a sport that he could participate in with his daughters to be a part of their life and health journey growing up
Sport and competition have always played a major part in Johannes’ life and right from yellow belt level he began competing in every available tournament he could. In order to widen his tournament competition skills he took up mixed martial arts training in 2015 adding a combination of ITF, WT Taekwondo and Karate techniques to his repertoire.
In 2017 Johannes earned his 1st Dan Black belt and has continued to train and compete across a number of martial arts. Today, as a 3rd Dan Black Belt and Senior Instructor, he is actively involved in teaching and coaching students at Auckland Taekwondo and here at Seungri Taekwondo.
Johannes says “the most satisfying part of Taekwondo and tournaments is not about winning or losing for me, its about being part of the journey, the enjoyment of competing, putting the skills you have learned into practice and meeting people that have the same passion about Martial arts.”
He still occasionally competes in other styles including Kick Boxing when the opportunity arises and maintains a healthy training regime including participating in marathons when he can.
Johannes personifies the modern day family focused martial artist who is passionate about martial arts and the Taekwondo way of life promoting health, fitness and self-improvement.