Bai Ying Pai

Bai Ying Pai, White Eagle Martial Arts, is mixed martial arts style developed by Master William O. Cummings. Bai Ying Pai encompasses the knowledge of Martial Arts gained through Master Cummings 40 years of study, including Kung-Fu, Karate, Judo, and Aikido.

Location

White Eagle Martial Arts is located in Morgantown West Virginia, in the original CTA training building.

GPS Coords:

History

Master William O. Cummings

Sensei Cummings began training in 1965 in the YMCA in Pittsburgh, Pa under the instruction of Glenn Premeru.

Sensei Cummings opened White Eagle Martial Arts with Bob Straub in 1983. Originally he taught separate martial arts styles (Karate, Kung Fu, Judo, and Aikido), before designing the Bai Ying Pai system between 1992 and 1994. In 2002 the Okinawan Karate Federation officially recognized Bai Ying Pai as a style of martial arts.

Sensei Cummings competed in tournaments from 1971 until 1997/98.

Tournaments and Competitions
Styles

Bai Ying Pai combines aspects from several styles of martial arts:

* Pai lum Kung Fu, as taught to Sensei Cummings by:
** Gene Thorner
** Tom Turcotte
** Master Daniel Pai

* Wah lum pai Kung Fu provides Bai Ying Pai with kung fu weapons kata, as taught to Sensei Cummings by:
** Tom Turcotte

* Hung Gar Kung Fu as taught to Sensei Cummings by:
** Tom Turcotte

* Shorin-ryu Karate, as taught to Sensei Cummings by:
** Glenn R Premru (Matsumura Orthodox)
** Sam Pearson (Matsumura Orthodox)
** Gene Thorner (Kobayashi-ryÅ«)

* Karate Weapons, as taught to Sensei Cummings by:
** John Hamilton
** Sam Pearson

* Kyokushin, as taught to Sensei Cummings by:
** Tony Farrell

* Judo as taught to Sensei Cummings by:
** Gene Thorner

* Aikido as taught to Sensei Cummings by:
** Roriko Masatoni

* Martial Arts for the Handicapable, as taught to Sensei Cummings by:
** Ted Volrath

Rank

Bai Ying Pai uses a 15 Kyu ranking system, with 6 belts. Kyus 15, 12, 9, 6, 3 correspond to belt advancements (white, yellow, orange, green, brown). Additionally stripes are added to the belts for younger students. The only exception is for brown belts, where stripes are mandatory for the final 3 kyu ranks before attaining the rank of black belt.

Students must be at least 16 years old to attain the rank of brown belt. A purple belt is available for younger students that are ready to test for brown, and is considered a "Junior" brown belt. A purple belt has the same knowledge as a brown belt, but does not have the required choke-holds for the brown belt rank.

Students must complete a minimum of 4 years of training and be at least 18 years old to attain the rank of black belt.

Kata

Bai Ying Pai stresses Kata as a method of learning technique, movement, balance, and self defense techniques. Brown belts are required to study, develop, and understand Bunkai for the katas practiced.

Sparring

Unlike other styles of Mixed martial arts, Bai Ying Pai is a real martial art taught in the traditional ways. Students are taught real techniques that are designed to defend themselves from assailants, quickly disarming or disabling opponents. As a result Bai Ying Pai students don't currently compete in Kumite tournaments. Sparring is limited to within the dojo under the supervision of a black belt, with a strict set of rules to prevent injury, though controlled contact is allowed when striking.

Classes
Children

Children can begin training at the age of 5. Though children can not attain brown and black belts until they are 16 and 18, children are encouraged to participate in martial arts for both the physical and mental conditioning.

Focus on self defense for children involves techniques to get the attention of people around them and to get away from potential attackers instead of confronting them 'head on.'

Advanced Kids Class

* Yellow Belt or higher
* Fridays

In this class they begin learning how to spar, and begin working on more advanced techniques and kata.

Adults

Adults begin their training in a 1 month beginner class that introduces them to warm ups, stretching, basic techniques, and kata. Upon finishing the beginner class students have the knowledge required to test for their white belts.

Advanced Adult Class

* Green belt and higher

* Monday and Thursday evenings following normal class

Advanced class is used to address issues seen during normal class, take techniques or concepts learned in the normal class to a more advanced level, additional kata, sparring, or more advanced 'upper rank' techniques.

Brown and Black Class

Every other Friday the Brown and Black belts hold an additional class to work on (and discuss) techniques, kata, and training.

Testing

Requirements For

Promotion Points

Promotion points are earned by attending class, clinics, and demos. A class is broken down into the following categories:
* Attendance -- 1 attendance point is given for each 30 minutes of class
* Uniform -- The uniform must be neat and clean, and the belt must be tied properly
* Attitude -- The student must always perform at their best and have a good attitude in class
* Teaching -- 1 point for each 30 minutes of teaching
* Misc -- Report Cards and Demo Points.
* Chore -- Adult students are responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the Dojo. Each student must earn 5 chore points each month (between 2 and 5 actual chores, depending on the time involved).

The above earn a student attendance points, which are then added up and then compared to a chart to determine the promotion points earned for that month. The Attendance Point to Promotion Points conversion is as follows:

From	To	=
10	13	1
14	21	2
22	29	3
30	37	4
38	45	5
46	54	6
55	63	7
64	70	8
71	73	9
74	76	10
77	79	11
80	81	12
82	84	13
85	87	14
88	90	15
90	95	16

Promotion points allows for a method of keeping track of how much formal instruction a student has received.

Report Cards

Martial Arts doesn't end when leaving the Dojo. Grade School and High School Bai Ying Pai students must present their report cards to Sensei Cummings to show that they are putting forth an effort to improve their scholarly studies as well as their martial arts studies.

Point Requirements

* White : 10
* Yellow : 45
* Orange : 75
* Green : 100
* Brown 3 : 100
* Brown 2 : 100
* Brown 1 : 100
* Black : When ready

The point requirements above are minimum points required to test. Frequently students are not ready to test until sometime after they have reached the minimum requirements.

Teaching Requirements

Starting with 3rd Brown there are required number of teaching hours for students to continue advancing. Bai Ying Pai is a traditional school, where all students are also teachers. All of the instructors, including the black belts, are also students and are unpaid. A yellow belt may be asked to help instruct a white belt on a kata. A brown belt may be asked to teach a kids class, or lead an adult class until a black belt is ready to come onto the floor.

Test Taking

Testing is an important part of Bai Ying Pai. It tests not only a students knowledge, but also their physical fitness levels.

Techniques/Drills

On test day, usually the second Saturday of the month, students line up in reverse rank order. Highest rank is in the back of the room and lowest in the front. Everyone that is testing must perform all techniques of all the previous ranks, that is a brown belt must perform all the techniques from white through green as well as their new techniques they are being tested on for brown. Improvement must be shown from test to test.

As a student progresses in rank, they will be asked to demonstrate strikes, blocks, judo, and aikido against the strikes and blocks of an . For example, someone testing for 3 KYU (3rd brown) must demonstrate blocks against the strikes of a green belt.

Kata

After a student has finished performing all their Techniques they are asked for their kata, one at a time. As rank increases, students may be asked to demonstrate Bunkai or perform the kata blind folded.

Horse Stance

The Horse stance is an important part of martial arts. Holding a horse stance requires physical strength as well as mental conditioning. Starting with the test for Green belt students must hold a horse stance for a specified length of time. Green belts must hold it for 15 minutes. The duration for brown belt tests varies and is determined by Sensei Cummings at the time of testing. Black Belts typically hold the horse stance for at least 1 hour.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu