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Drag
Reduction and Drill Practice:
Not Just for
Swimming
By
CRAIG STRIMEL
 How TI practice principles influenced a college
communications class.
Total Immersion has had a profound effect on
something even more important than swim technique
- my work. I teach speech communication at
a community college, and my first few weeks
learning the TI drills led to a breakthrough
in my approach to teaching. I had actually
given up teaching for several years because
of doubts about whether my classes were having
a lasting effect. I often felt that the best
I could do for my students was introduce them
to novel ideas and hope they might adopt them
some day – in part because even my application
of those skills could be inconsistent. This
felt a bit like showing a TI video to swim
students, then saying, "Good luck in the
pool." But after I began working on drag
reduction and drill mastery in the pool, I
realized the same principles could be applied
to communication. Here's the whole story.
I had been a runner from 7th grade through
my second year of college, but recurring injuries
led me to give up on endurance sports. For
16 years I hiked occasionally and for the last
five years I’ve also surfed. After beginning
a relationship with a woman who was training
for the Chicago Marathon, I was inspired to
begin training for a triathlon – only
to quickly fall back into my pattern of injury.
Fortunately Joe Friel's "Triathlete's Bible" led
me to TI, which led me to Chi Running.
I ordered Triathlon Swimming
Made Easy. One
morning before it arrived, with some free time
before class, I visited the Franklin Institute
Science Center and watched "Wired to Win," a
movie that uses the Tour de France as a backdrop
to explain how the brain rewires itself as
we learn new tasks. When the movie ended, I
couldn’t wait to get to the pool to begin
rewiring my brain for efficient strokes.
Arriving home I found a notice that my TI book
had arrived! I stopped at the post office on
my way to the Y, and then read half the book
in the locker room. My first session in the
pool was challenging, but not frustrating as
I visualized new connections being formed in
my brain. I left the Y with an excited buzz
about swimming that I’d never felt before.
An hour later I was driving to campus to teach
my first class of the day – a lesson
on conflict – planning my lecture as
I drove. I would use my TI practice as a metaphor
for learning how to resolve conflict, and communication
skills in general. Though I free-associated
the lecture, from the looks on my students'
faces, and the lively discussion that ensued,
I could tell the presentation had captured
their interest.
The main point of my lecture was that learning
to communicate in a new way requires one to
rewire his or her brain, during which the tendency
may be to give up and retreat to familiar habits.
But, once you get a taste for the new way,
there really is no going back. It will probably
be difficult and frustrating. It throws you
in the ring with your ego without gloves. Kind
of like learning TI.
In the "ChiRunning book",
Danny Dreyer relates how in 1997 Tiger Woods
began
to feel, in his
own words, “My swing really sucks,” although
he was already the best golfer in the world.
For 19 months he worked on a new swing while
the golf world speculated on what had happened
to his game. For someone who had been the most
dominant golfer in the world, a willingness
to spend almost two years being eminently “beatable” is
an almost heroic example of not letting ego
get in the way of self-improvement.
Using examples like this, I’m still refining
this new class material, with a goal of motivating
my students to practice their new communication
skills outside class – even though it’s
an introductory course that lasts for only
16 weeks. At the same time,
my TI practices have become an almost daily
reminder of how to rethink my whole life. Humans
are literally wired to solve problems with
body and mind. So as I learn to decrease drag
in the pool, I’m also looking for sources
of “drag” in my communication classes.
For instance I’ve decided to incorporate
TI’s step-by-step drill paradigm in my
teaching. When I resume teaching interpersonal
communication in the spring semester, I’ll
introduce a series of games designed to teach
the skill of public speaking. I’ve already
tested the games in an after school program
for high school kids. We begin with basic skills
that develop a strong foundation. For example,
stand up, greet your audience with a smile,
and introduce yourself. Each game will add
more advanced skills, employing drilling and
repetition as in the pool.
The “drag” people experience when
speaking can be easily identified. For example
someone who is at ease in a cocktail party
conversation can freeze up when standing before
a group. But through mindful practice of basic
techniques and behaviors, the speaker can learn
to draw on the energy present in the room and
see their speaking become fluid. Through repetitious
drills, effective speaking will gradually “happen.”
Nearly all of my students agree that it would
have been invaluable to have taken a communication
class at a younger age. Because primary and
secondary schools already struggle to teach
everything the state requires, I’ve begun
working on a book for parents about teaching
communication skills to their kids.
What excites me is that these ideas have grown
directly out of practicing Total Immersion
and the realization that learning an exacting
new skill can have a salutary effect on all
aspects of one's life.
Craig Strimel lives in Philadelphia. He teaches
college courses in human communication, and
offers seminars on topics ranging from presentation
skills to leadership development. You can contact
Craig at craigstrimel@yahoo.com.
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