Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu & Tai Chi

Our Owners

Nancy & Billy Greer
Owners

Nancy and Billy Greer met in 1978 while attending neighboring colleges. Nancy was a social work major and Billy was biology/pre-med. They married in 1982 and have been full partners in each others lives ever since and have worked together almost continuously. They have exemplified the concept of Yin and Yang, bringing together skills and ideas that complemented each other and enabled them to do more than either might accomplish on their own. They are both passionate about what they do, which is easy to see if you spend a few minutes talking to them!

Nancy Greer

With her BS in Social Work and experience as an educator, Nancy worked for over 15 years with the developmentally disabled and also started her own educational support company and mail order book business. She and Billy started studying Northern ShaoLin Kung Fu in 1987, but her training was interrupted by the birth of their son, Glen. When she returned to training, she focused primarily on tai chi, but also spent years studying yoga. Jing Ying Institute has enabled her to satisfy her desire to serve others in the community while also improving herself and educating others. She organizes our charitable efforts and we have raised tens of thousands of dollars over the years along with collecting several thousands of pounds of food and clothing. She is well known for her fundraising efforts in the local community and has come up with unique ways to create win-win situations in which a business that donates to her efforts also gets publicity and good exposure. In 2013, her efforts were recognized with an ASPIRE Community Leadership Award at a presentation that also happened to be the then-new County Executive Laura Neuman's first public event! She is very active in the local business community, often going out of her way to help other business owners. She follows the philosophy of giving first rather than asking. Her efforts resulted in the Severna Park Chamber of Commerce recognizing her as their "Women in Business Champion of the Year" for 2012. She also went on to win the 2012 Maryland Small Business Association's award for Women in Business Champion of the Year. She is a past President of the Greater Severna Park and Arnold Chamber of Commerce, and is also a chair of the Successful Women in Business Group where she arranges speakers and other activities.

Nancy wears many hats and you may see her in the office, in tai chi class, organizing our summer camps, leading our latest charitable campaigns, or out in the community visiting businesses or attending events.

Shifu Billy
Greer

Owner
Jing Ying Institute

Within a few minutes of speaking with Shifu Billy, it becomes clear that he is passionate about what he does and determined to help others succeed. His background as a scientist, his studies in biology, his experience teaching and his pursuit of studying martial arts provide him with unique skills as an instructor. Not only can he demonstrate a movement and explain its purpose, he can analyze it and break it down to a step-by-step process that makes it easier for others to learn. His holistic approach to instruction helps ensure students understand movements combining mind, body and spirit.

He has given presentations for hospitals, schools, colleges, government agencies, churches, business groups, scouts and more. He has appeared on the Diane Rehm Show, the Marc Steiner Show, the DC Cupcakes episode "So You Think You Can Lion Dance", and has been featured in the New York Times, Baltimore Sun, and Washington Post as well as local papers such as the Capital, and Severna Park Voice. Shifu Billy has had a long career of competing and teaching. Here are some dates for the start of his training, competing, and teaching:

1973 - began training and competing in the martial sport of folkstyle wrestling (to 1981 when he finished college)
1974 - began first teaching job - teaching gymnastics to children 5 to 16 for the Virginina Beach Department of Parks and Recreation
1987 - began studying Tian Shan Pai Kung Fu (Northern ShaoLin) under Mfundi Tayari Casel at the Dennis Brown ShaoLin Wushu Academy

Shifu Billy also gained valuable coaching experience as the team captain of his high school Cross Country, Wrestling and Gymnastic teams as well as his college Cross Country and Wrestling teams. When the first kung fu school he and Nancy attended closed, he started a club and organized and led classes. During his laboratory career, he trained new employees locally, and also provided training for other locations nationally and internationally. In addition, he has taught credit and non-credit courses for Anne Arundel Community College including martial arts and tai chi. He also has over 15 years experience working with the developmentally disabled for Bello Machre and the ARC of the Chesapeake.

Shifu Billy continued his studies in Tian Shan Pai kung fu , having the good fortune to begin training directly with Grandmaster Willy Lin, the person who first brought Tian Shan Pai Kung Fu to the US. Grandmaster Lin asked Shifu Billy to become his formal indoor student and he went through a traditional BaiShi ceremony to become his Disciple and a Third Generation inheritor of Tian Shan Pai. Since then, he has had the opportunity to participate in Disciple-only training sessions in the US and in Taiwan, learning push hands, fighting techniques, qinna, weapons and more. Currently, Jing Ying Institute is one of only three schools teaching Tian Shan Pai Gong Fu under a disciple of GM Willy Lin.

Shifu Billy also was fortunate to study Tai Chi directly with Grandmaster Chen ZhengLei in the US and in China. Grandmaster Chen invited Shifu Billy to become his indoor student and he underwent a traditional BaiShi ceremony to become his Indoor Disciple and a 12th generation inheritor of Chen Family TaiJiQuan. Shifu Billy has visited the birthplace of TaiJi in Chen Village and studied at the Chen Village training Center. He has also participated in many intensive training camps that Grandmaster Chen holds specifically for his disciples. In 2018, GM Chen celebrated his 70th birthday, the 40th anniversary of his Chen ZhengLei TaiJi Association, and the opening of his new training and exhibition center. During the celebration, Shifu Billy was recognized with an award as an Outstanding International Teacher for his work in helping to share Chen Tai Chi. In a special disciple pledging ceremony, GM Chen accepted his first ever In-Chamber Disciples (his highest level) from the USA. Shifu Billy joined YiJiao Hong of Seattle, Washington and Jimmy Dong of Greenville, South Carolina for this special honor and was the only one not born in China and the first foreigner to undergo the In-Chamber BaiShi ceremony in China! Currently, Jing Ying Institute is one of only three schools teaching Chen Family TaiJiQuan under a USA In-Chamber Disciple of GM Chen ZhengLei.

Through his close relationship with these and other high-level martial artists, Shifu Billy has been able to arrange workshops with some of the top coaches in the world at Jing Ying on a regular basis.

Shifu Billy has won numerous gold medals in forms, weapons, sparring, tai chi and push hands at local, regional, national and international competitions. He is one of those rare competitors who can win gold with a soft tai chi form, or a dynamic kung fu form, and then apply the priciples against another person to win push hands and free sparring - all in the same tournament. He has also been on the other side of the competition ring serving as a judge. A few highlights include:

2005 Grand Champion of the USA National Open Martial Arts Tournament winning gold in sparring, tai chi, and forms
2009 USA WKF National Champion in advanced sparring and advanced Chen Style Tai Chi
30th Anniversary Capitol Classics China Open - Head Judge, Internal Division
2014 USAWKF Traditional Team Trial - Head Judge, selecting US representatives for the 6th World Traditional Championship in China.
2017 International Wushu Elite Competition winning gold for tai chi form and tai chi sword.

In addition to special training with Willy Lin and Chen ZhengLei as a Disciple, Shifu Billy has also been fortunate to have the opportunity to train with Chen XiaoWang, Chen XiaoXing, Zhu TianCai, Wang HaiJun, Chen Bing, Chen ZiQiang, Zhu BaoLin and many others.

Visiting Instructors and Staff

Grandmaster Willy Lin

Willy Lin began studying Kung Fu in Taiwan in 1957 with Wang, Jyue Jen, the martial artist who introduced Tian Shan Pai from China to Taiwan.

After studying with Wang Jyue Jen for 5 years, Grandmaster Lin was selected for special private training and was invited to participate in a private ceremony to formalize his commitment to Tian Shan Pai and become a disciple of Wang Jyue Jen. At that time, he became Grandmaster Wang's assistant and was made the head instructor of the school. He remained in that position for six years before moving to Brazil to pursue his goal of emigrating to the USA. In Brazil, he taught for the San Paulo Chinese Association and the San Paulo Police Department. In 1970, he left for the USA and opened his first school a year later.

Grandmaster Lin is credited with being the first person to introduce Tian Shan Pai Kung Fu to the USA, and almost everyone currently teaching the system in the USA traces back to his schools. He taught many people directly who went on to open their own schools. He also brought over people from the original school in Taiwan to serve as instructors at his school, and many of them later opened their own schools and taught students who opened schools.

Many years after retiring from running his own schools or officially teaching any classes, Grandmaster Lin came out of retirement to teach a workshop at Jing Ying Institute. That re-invigorated his invovlement in teaching and he began offering workshops regularly and began documenting the system in instructional DVDs. Grandmaster Lin invited Shifu Billy to become his direct disciple and an official lineage holder of the Tian Shan Pai kung fu system.

His website is at http://www.linkungfu.com

Grandmaster
Chen ZhengLei

Grand Master Chen Zhenglei is a 19th generation descendant of the Chen family and a 11th generation direct-line inheritor of Chen TaiJi. He was the head coach at the Chen’s Village National Taichi Center and vice-president of Henan Wushu Stadium. He is officially accredited with the title of “China’s Top Ten Contemporary Martial Arts Masters”.

Born May of 1949 in Chen Village, the birthplace of tai chi, Grandmaster Chen began his training at an early age with Grandmaster Chen ZhaoPi and Grandmaster Chen ZhaoKui. He spent 30 years of diligent study and hard work to master the complete system. Competing from 1974 to 1988, he won numerous gold medals and championship titles at national and international tournaments. From 1989 to 1996, he led his team in provincial and national wushu championships in China, collecting three first place wins, two grand championships, and dozens of individual event gold medals.

In 1981, at the request of the Chinese Government, he hosted the first international tai chi delegation to Chen Village, sponsored by the Japanese National Tai Chi Association. Since then, he has hosted over one hundred international delegations of behalf of the Chinese government. He began touring internationally in 1983 to share his knowledge in workshops and seminars in dozens of countries. We are fortunate to have him regularly visit Jing Ying to provide wiorkshops. In 2011, Grandmaster Chen invited Shifu Billy to become his indoor disciple and an official lineage holder and inheritor of the Chen Family Tai Chi system. In 2018, in a special ceremony in China, Grandmaster Chen promoted Shifu Billy to an In-chamber Disciple (the highest level). This was the first time someone from the USA was accepted as an In-Chamber Disciple and the first time any foreign student underwent the ceremony in China.

Wang HaiJun

Wang HaiJun is an In-chamber disciple of Grandmaster Chen ZhengLei and an official 12th generation lineage holder of Chen Style TaiJi.He is a four time national champion of China in Push Hands. For three consecutive years before retiring from competition, he was Overall Champion which meant that he had to win the championship in Forms, Sword, and Push Hands. In many years, there is no Overall Champion because of the disfficulty in winning all three categories! Since retiring from competition, he has trained many students that have achieved a high level of skill (both Chinese and non-Chinese) with over thirty winning gold medals and ten winning medals in national push hands competition!

Born in January of 1972 in the city of ZhengZhou in Henan Province, Wang HaiJun was nine when he first met Chen ZhengLei. In order for him to continue his taiji studies more extensively, his father arranged for him to move to Chen Village at the age of 11 to live with Chen ZhengLei and study with him. Other than Chen ZhengLei's own children, no other student has had this opportunity. He became the first non-Chen-family student in modern times to be traditionally trained at Chen Village.

When he was just 16, Chen ZhengLei invited him to travel with him to help teach and demonstrate his skill. He also accompanied Chen ZhengLei and Chen XiaoWang when they first began traveling outside of Chen Village to teach silk-reeling exrecises.

Since 2000, Wang HaiJun has lived in England. His ability to speak english makes him one of the most appoachable, high level Chen teachers available. In addition, his "hands on" teaching method, his generous willingness to share the principlas of tai chi, and his high level of skill make him one of the top Chen coaches you will ever train with. The Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu and Tai Chi is very fortunate to be one of the few schools to have had him visiting regularly for over a decade to share his knowledge with our students.

Staff

Lane Greer

Lane began taking PE classes at Jing Ying in the Fall of 2001. In the summer of 2003, she started the Kung Fu program. In 2004, she also started studying Tai Chi and finds that it is a wonderful complement to the Shaolin Kung Fu training. In July of 2008, she earned her Black Sash in Kung Fu.

She quickly fell in love with the physical and mental challenges of learning Kung Fu. When she started, it seemed like it would be hard to find time to train twice a week, but now she says it's hard to go for a day without Kung Fu!

Lane taught our Kung Fu Kids program, and organized and helped run the Demo Team. She finds that instructing others helps her gain a deeper understanding of the forms.

She is Jing Ying's most prolific medal winner with a national championship in advanced level sparring and in advanced level tai chi forms. She has won numerous other gold medals for sparring, forms, weapons and tai chi and is known for her flexibility. She has trained with Willy Lin, Chen ZhengLei, Chen XiaoWang, Wang HaiJun and others.

She has her BSN and works as an ER nurse.

Glen Greer

Glen began taking PE classes at Jing Ying in the Fall of 2001. In the summer of 2003, he started the Kung Fu program. He likes to push himself to test the limits of his abilities and has seen big improvements in strength and flexibility. He's known for his sparse, efficient fighting style and powerful thrust kicks.

In the past, he ran our Kids Kung Fu classes and family classes. Although no longer actively teaching, he can still be found working out and helping out at Jing Ying as needed.

In his spare time, he enjoys reading, listening to music, weightlifting and watching movies.