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Emerald features an impressive 31,898 square-foot gym with 2,400 seats. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
The football stadium at Emerald High School in Dublin. (Photo courtesy DUSD) 
The Emerald Aerouants in action on the football field. (Photo courtesy DUSD) 
The Emerald High School weight room. (Photo by Dennis Miller) 
Emerald High School features a state-of-the-art track at its stadium. (Photo courtesy DUSD) 
The kinesiology lab and training room at Emerald High School. (Photo by Dennis Miller) 
Emerald High’s mascot is the Aerouant, the Ancient Celtic word for a dragon-like beast. (Photo by Chuck Deckert)
Earlier this year I was told by a local family that the new Emerald High School in Dublin was loaded with amazing athletic facilities.
I knew where the school was located — right across the street from Lowe’s — but from the outside it looked like the campus was land-locked in between a glut of townhomes and houses in the area.
Simple enough: I called athletic director Jason Rockwell and he was more than gracious to have me come out and take a tour.
Amazing.
The school has the Aerouant as a nickname, which comes from the ancient Celtic word for dragon and is known to symbolize good luck, health and strength.
Aerouants are mythical creatures, like dragons or serpents. They have typically been characterized as intelligent, proud and fierce.
The school is in the Bay Valley Athletic League and has only sophomore and freshman classes this year, but hopefully in the next couple of years the Aerouants can join the East Bay Athletic League. Sure would make sense in a transportation sense.
We started at the front of the school, with three stories of classrooms framing one side of the school.
From there, we headed into the gym and got my first “wow” moment.
The gym is made three regulation basketball courts wide. The middle of the three is used as the main court, with bleachers coming from either side of the building, with the full capacity at 2,400 people. There is a state-of-the-art scoreboard on one wall and an old-school board on the other end.
There is also room for nine volleyball courts to add perspective of the size of the gym. The wrestling mats are stored in holders on the side that are raised up to the roof when they are not in use.
There is a drop-down video screen right over the middle of the main court for use in events for rallies and such, or even for hype videos for any of the sports.
It is a cavernous gym and when it gets packed in the future for varsity events, expect it to be the loudest in the league.
Right off the gym is the kinesiology lab training room. There are training tables, two soak tubs, TVs and a big whiteboard. A lot of other schools have training rooms that are barely bigger than a broom closet. Emerald could pass for a junior college or small college facility.
The weight room is a good size with all new weights. Exit the training/locker room area and you head down toward the athletic field stadium where football and the other field sports participate.
The track is official size and features eight lanes.
For off-field activities, Emerald has a 150-seat classroom just off the student union that features lecture hall seating. Each seat has power outlets, with TVs throughout the room and a huge whiteboard at the front.
The lone drawback is the landlocked nature of the campus does not have room for baseball/softball fields. That has not been much of an issue as the Fallon Sports Park is a short distance away and has great fields for the teams. It’s the same location where the Dublin Leprechauns play their home games.
Dublin’s Wave Aquatic Center is also nearby and has/will be used for swimming and water polo. There is space for a swimming pool but at this point there is no funding for the project. It would need a bond, which has not been planned.
It’s not just the athletic facilities that are amazing. There is going to be a performing arts facility with seating for 600.
There are two academic towers that are three floors each that include a skywalk way between the two towers on the second floor.
There is a student union with a food court and a wellness center.
All in all, it’s an amazing campus and one well worth your time to check out if your kids play athletics at some point.
Randy Isaacs tribute
The former and much-loved Foothill Boys basketball coach who passed away last year has been honored at the Pleasanton school by having the basketball court at the school renamed “Randy Isaacs Court”.
The official dedication is set for this Friday (Jan. 10) before the Granada at Foothill EBAL opener. There will be a brief ceremony following the junior varsity game.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. This column originally appeared in Tri-Valley Preps Playbook, a weekly sports e-newsletter published by Embarcadero Media Foundation.
