Charles Sereff
founder - trainer
🌍 American🥊 USTF founder, first Western ITF master, IIC instructor pioneer🎂 01-01-1933- 01-01-2022
Charles E. Sereff (1933 - 2022), known universally as Chuck Sereff, was one of the most important non-Korean figures in ITF Taekwon-Do history - a direct confidant of General Choi Hong Hi who opened the art to Western practitioners and built its largest non-Korean organisation.
He began martial arts training in 1961 and made contact with General Choi in 1965. He went on to become the first non-Korean in history to hold the ITF titles of International Instructor (1973) and Master Instructor (1989) - milestones that proved the art's highest technical standards were achievable outside Korea.
In 1974, at General Choi's request, he helped establish the United States Taekwon-Do Federation (USTF). Elected president in 1979, he built it into one of the largest ITF organisations in the world with tens of thousands of members. He served as Secretary-General of the global ITF and was a member of the World Taekwon-Do Demonstration Team.
In June 1996 he became the first non-Korean master officially authorised to teach an International Instructors Course (IIC) - a watershed moment for the internationalisation of the art's highest-level instruction. In December 1997, shortly after the promotion of Grandmaster Rhee Ki-ha, General Choi promoted him to 9th Dan Grandmaster - one of the first recipients of that rank outside Korea.
He later received the unique honorary title of Honourable Grand Master (HGM), a distinction created specifically to recognise his lifetime of service. Chuck Sereff's legacy is the proof that ITF Taekwon-Do's highest ideals were never Korean property - they belonged to anyone willing to dedicate a lifetime to them.
He began martial arts training in 1961 and made contact with General Choi in 1965. He went on to become the first non-Korean in history to hold the ITF titles of International Instructor (1973) and Master Instructor (1989) - milestones that proved the art's highest technical standards were achievable outside Korea.
In 1974, at General Choi's request, he helped establish the United States Taekwon-Do Federation (USTF). Elected president in 1979, he built it into one of the largest ITF organisations in the world with tens of thousands of members. He served as Secretary-General of the global ITF and was a member of the World Taekwon-Do Demonstration Team.
In June 1996 he became the first non-Korean master officially authorised to teach an International Instructors Course (IIC) - a watershed moment for the internationalisation of the art's highest-level instruction. In December 1997, shortly after the promotion of Grandmaster Rhee Ki-ha, General Choi promoted him to 9th Dan Grandmaster - one of the first recipients of that rank outside Korea.
He later received the unique honorary title of Honourable Grand Master (HGM), a distinction created specifically to recognise his lifetime of service. Chuck Sereff's legacy is the proof that ITF Taekwon-Do's highest ideals were never Korean property - they belonged to anyone willing to dedicate a lifetime to them.