TODD Bennett's new UK Athletics post means Southampton can keep churning out quality ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.

The 43-year-old has given up his day job with Super Schools', an organisation which takes sporting celebrities into schools to promote fun and fitness, to concentrate full-time on coaching.

"It's great to have the time to do the coaching job properly," he confessed.

"Instead of sorting out meeting schedules and race programmes at ten o'clock at night, it's all part of my job now.

"And it also means I get to see the athletes for every training session.

"I'm one of the first wave of full-time coaches to have been appointed by UKA. And I do believe that athletics in this country is moving in the right direction by having a more professional outlook to coaching.

"UKA are putting coaches in performance centres all over the country and the plan is for athletes to gravitate to these centres so that we can oversee their training.

"It's up to us not to stand back and hope that success happens. We've got to make it happen.

"My job is to coach, give any help and information I can to other coaches and to make sure my athletes perform.

"At worse, we want finalists in (the London Olympics in) 2012, but hopefully we'll win medals."