Improve balance -- drill or whole stroke

[TIJoe]

After practicing front crawl through TI principle for 10 months, I feel I am at at a level that further improvement will depend on improvement on basics and that starts with balance. I didn't spend much time doing drills so far but no doubt my balance has improved by leaps and bounds compared with 10 months. This leads to my question: is it possible to improve balance through thoughtful whole stroke as quickly as doing balance drills?

Even though I am better at it than before, I still find skating drill unpleasant to do. I don't have a strong kick yet and to move forwardly slowly in a crowded public pool is not something one wants to do often.