When Geelong’s comeback king Daniel Menzel made a successful return from his fourth knee reconstruction in Round 22 last year, the footy world was in awe.
So there wouldn’t be a better person for other similarly injured players to bounce recovery ideas off than the 24-year-old.
But the number of players wanting advice was so overwhelming that the crafty forward had to come up with a better plan.
“I had a lot of people contact me and it probably took me three months to get back to a lot of messages. A lot of them were ‘I’ve done one or two ACL’s, what’s your advice’ and I wrote back to all of them because you feel the empathy and understand what they’re going through,” Menzel tells Aflplayers.com.au.
“But I also had a lightbulb moment and thought ‘why don’t I come up with something where instead of replying to every single person with a personalised message where it’s a little bit different but the concept’s the same, why don’t I come up with something where I can refer everyone to the same thing.
“So from there I decided to do a website that will hopefully have a bit information on there to help people.”
Menzel launched the Mental Toughness, Mental Fortitude (MTMF) website on Wednesday as a foundation for not only those who have fallen victim to a knee reconstruction but also anyone suffering through the physical and mental hurdles a long term injury.
The site includes recovery information, a background to Menzel’s story and also houses sporting apparel and accessories such as the MTMF labelled wristbands Menzel regularly wears.
The 24-year-old says the MTMF slogan is a logical name for the website given its significance to his journey.
“MTMF – mental toughness, mental fortitude – is a slogan that I came up with three years ago for a couple of reasons. One, it helped me through my rehab and to remind me of what I’ve been through and how far I’ve come. But secondly, it was also through the support and the messages that I got. Every time I read those messages, I thought there is no way I’m not going to overcome this, I’ve just had that much support.
“I came up with that slogan and I’ve worn it on my wristband ever since. It’s something that I look down on and reminds me exactly where I am and what I want to achieve.”
Click here to read about Daniel Menzel’s chat with injured Swan Alex Johnson.