Our Instructors

Master John Archer VIII

8th Degree Master

Chief Instructor and President of T-UK

Master John Archer is an 8th degree black belt and has been studying Taekwon-Do now for over 40 years, starting in 1983. Over this time he has produced many great champions and instructors and achieved huge success.

He has been all over the world with his art, studying under many Masters and Grandmasters to gain as much knowledge as possible to pass on to his students.

Master Archer is  President and a co-founder of T-UK and is the senior member of the T-UK technical board.

Master Archer’s International Grading Dates

  • 4th degree Black Belt on 11.09.96 – examiner Grand Master Park Jung Tae.

  • 5th degree Black Belt on 24.04.04 – examiner Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa

  • 6th degree Black Belt on 11.07.09 – examiner Grandmaster Oldham

  • 7th degree Black Belt on 8.07.17 - examiners Grandmaster Hector Marano,
    Grandmaster Ung Kim Lan

  • 8th degree Black Belt on 23.11.25 - examiners Grandmaster Jedut / Grandmaster Dennis

Mr Ricky Dhillon VI

6th Degree Black Belt

Senior Instructor

Mr Ricky Dhillon is a 6th degree black belt and has been training in Taekwon Do for over 30 years under Master John Archer. He received his first degree black belt in 1994 and is Master Archers full time chief assistant instructor for Stratford-TKD. 

Mr Ricky Dhillon has run many clubs over the years including Blue Coat School in Coventry and Solihull Taekwon-Do.

He has a wide knowledge in the technical side of Taekwon-Do, attending many International Instructor Courses all over the world.

Mr Dhillon has competed in many national, regional and international championships, becoming an international instructor in 2013.

Mr Alan Smith V

5th Degree Black Belt

Senior Instructor

Mr Alan Smith has been training in Taekwon-Do for 25 years starting in 2000.

He has been an assistant at Stratford Taekwon-Do since 2015 after running a very successful club in Shipston on Stour for many years.

He is highly regarded as one of T-UK’s top referee / umpires and assists in running the National Umpire Courses for T-UK, also attending ITF England Umpire Courses, and International Courses to stay well informed of the latest in officiating.

His technical knowledge is excellent and he often looks after the new beginners when they arrive. Mr Smith is also The Stratford Taekwon-Do designated Safeguarding Lead.

Mr Alex Chan II

2nd Degree Black Belt

Assistant Instructor and Kids Coach

Alex started Taekwon-Do at the early age of 8yrs, studying the Olympic WT style in Cumbria. He co-founded a Taekwon-Do club at his University in 2003 where he stayed until 2007.

After a long break where he started a family and successful career he resumed his training in 2021 in London learning ITF Taekwon-Do under Master Jim Hogan, where he also introduced his 2 daughters to our art.

In 2022 he re-located to the Stratford area and began training under Master Archer with his daughters. Since their time with T-UK, Alex and the Chan family have won many medals in competition and Alex himself now does a great job running the Childrens classes at Stratford TKD.

He was recently promoted to 2nd degree black belt on Nov 23rd 2025.

Mr Ollie Archer I

1st Degree Black Belt

Assistant Instructor and Sparring Coach

Ollie (son of Master Archer) began his Taekwon-Do journey at the age of 7, and more recently returned in 2023 after an extended period of time away from the Dojang. Returning with an abundance of potential and ambition.

Ollie quickly found his interest in the competitive side of Taekwon-Do in Patterns and Sparring, and achieved his 1st Degree Black Belt in under 3 years, on May 12th 2024.

So far, Ollie has picked up countless medals, across both disciplines, at events across the UK including England, Scotland and Wales, one of those being the ITF England National Championships, where he became English Champion in both Patterns and Sparring.

Ollie leads by example, through consistent training and studying of Taekwon-Do. Leading alot of the Sparring sessions in Stratford, he uses his international experience from events such as the ITF Elite Stage, to setup realistic and effective sparring sessions to help Stratford’s students consistently improve.