Salina Liberty opener ends in a huge win!

Photo by Aiden Abraham

Last weekend, as students prepared to leave campus for spring break, the Salina Liberty kicked off their home opener of the 2026 National Arena League season at Tony’s Pizza Events Center. The Joplin Assassins out of Joplin, Missouri, traveled to Salina Saturday night to lose 61-0 in a very unfortunate fashion. Led by head coach Jermaine Hampton, the Liberty looks to have a very promising season after a tremendous start. 

Promotions and partnerships

Photo by Aiden Abraham

Besides the action happening on the field, plenty was happening off of it as the Liberty games are not only entertainment for Salina, but a huge promotional event for businesses in town. Plenty of KWU students volunteered to help work this event, especially the football players, considering this was an indoor football game.

One of the biggest promotions and maybe the most interesting was the partnership with Great Clips, which hosted free haircuts in the lobby. Each haircut lasted about 5 minutes, and there were three barbers at each entrance. This promotion was surprisingly very popular, as there was a decent line for each chair.

Another promotion was a pillow fight in the middle of the field to promote the comfort of some of the hotels in town. There was also a soccer game at halftime to promote the youth soccer league in town, and it was a cool experience for the young players to be able to play on the turf of an arena.

Finally, the Big Brothers and Big Sisters Foundation here in Salina brought some of their youth and mentors to help create the player tunnel for when the team was introduced. This was not only an amazing experience for some of those young kids to run onto the field and high-five players, but also served as a good way to make them feel represented.

Kansas Wesleyan Students volunteer

The turnout of the game was decent considering the fact that it was spring break, as there were plenty of fans packing the lower levels of the arena. As mentioned before, there were plenty of student athletes who participated in working the game.

Photo by Aiden Abraham 

Most of the students, 21 or older, got stuck selling beer to the adults in the stands, but some of the younger guys got some pretty interesting assignments. Aiden Abraham and James Carroll, who both play football for KWU, had the privilege of coordinating some of the on-field promotions. This included leading the Big Brothers and Big Sisters foundation out onto the field, setting up a giant dodgeball game, and even drafting teams to have a tug of war at midfield.

They also got to walk the stands and hand out flyers for various restaurants. James Caroll had this to say about his experience, “I volunteered without really knowing what I was getting myself into, and it was an absolute blast! They were a great environment to be around and treated us like we were veteran employees.” 

Outcome of the game

Photo by Aiden Abraham

Once again, the Salina Liberty had an exceptional opening day, scoring 61 points to nothing against Joplin. There were no hard feelings, though, as players from both teams came together for a giant prayer on the field. As the gameday events came to a close, many Liberty players stayed out on the field and signed autographs for all the kids who came out to the game.

Some of the KWU students hung around to help put things away as they all recounted their different experiences of the game. Everyone seemed to have a great time, and the major win made it that much better. The Salina Liberty beat the Omaha Beef this week 60-22, and with two back-to-back blowout wins, there’s no doubt this will be another historic season for the Liberty!