The Texas-sized zeal for all things football buoys their popular roles, fulfilling a destiny that for some began with childhood visions of becoming Cowboys cheerleaders.

And where there are teenage girls and big dreams, there is drama.

A number of public squabbles over cheerleading at Texas high schools have recently drawn attention to a sport that many parents and coaches say sparks some of the nastiest, emotional dust-ups in schools.

Sure, parents and kids can get intense about football, the marching band and other activities, but there is something special about cheerleading, they say.

The latest controversy erupted this month in McKinney, Texas, when a coach resigned because she says administrators didn’t allow her to discipline the squad. A recent spat in Southlake, Texas, also tore at the seams of the school’s community.

“Being a coach, you ask yourself whether you even want to be involved in this,” said Ronda Sherrill, longtime cheer coordinator at Sam Houston High School in Arlington, Texas. “There is a cheerleading issue every day. … It happens in every district.”

Some high school cheerleaders view the activity as a sport, no different than soccer or tennis.

But parents and coaches say the trouble comes when girls look at cheer as the source of social status.

Getting cut from the team or benched for a game suddenly means losing an identity.

“There is still something about saying ‘I’m a cheerleader’ that means something to a kid in high school,” said Lisa Albert, who used to run a cheerleading gym in Fort Worth, Texas. “Sometimes they think that is the key to their popularity.”

Some argue that cheerleading is not worse than anything else.

Karen Halterman, senior vice president of marketing for the National Cheerleaders Association, said disputes arise just as often in football and other sports.

“Why can’t it be accepted as a wonderful, athletic and engaging behavior that parents choose to keep their kids in to teach them life skillsfi” she asked.

Many girls start cheerleading classes as young as age 3. Some parents are as wrapped up in cheerleading as their kids — wearing spirit gear, painting signs and decorating locker rooms.

The subject is so touchy that many parents would not talk about cheerleading on the record, saying it was too risky for their daughters. Some were quick to say they’re not like “other cheerleading parents.”

“A lot of people think if your daughter makes cheerleader, she’s really arrived and parents get very involved,” said Linda Edwards, whose daughter is on the Highland Park squad.

Many parents live vicariously through their children.

“It’s the mom’s dream,” Cindy Littlejohn said of many of her fellow cheerleading moms from Carroll Senior High School. “It’s not even healthy. They just kind of live through their child. It becomes a huge part of the mom’s life.”

When a girl is cut from a squad or disciplined, she is often quick to turn to her parents, who storm into the principal’s office and threaten to call their lawyers, coaches say.

“The parents get involved, and then it’s not real pretty,” Sherrill said. “The parents can be really vindictive. It’s about who has money and who did private lessons.”

The parents’ actions may have more to do with the social cache of cheerleading than the activity itself, said Jennifer Schroeder-Steward, a psychology professor at Texas A&M University-Commerce.

“The child becomes their identity, and if that is threatened, they react very strongly because it’s a direct threat to them,” Schroeder-Steward said.

Some of the emotion comes down to money.

Cheerleaders and their parents often dole out more than $1,000 a year for camp, uniforms, megaphones, backpacks, cheer shoes and pom-poms. As a result, sitting on the sideline feels like money wasted.

Vanessa Hirt, whose daughter was a captain on the McKinney North High School squad last year, said many parents think that investment gives them leverage.

“A lot of the parents feel that they do have a say in what goes on since it costs so much,” she said.

Disputes often focus on who runs the squad. Most area high schools hire outside judges for tryouts and draw up strict constitutions to spell out the rules, but that doesn’t seem to ward off some issues.

McKinney North’s coach, Michaela Ward, resigned this month because she says the school’s principal — whose daughter is on the squad — and other administrators thwarted her attempts to discipline the girls. Among other incidents, some of the teens were punished for taking a sexually suggestive photo in a condom store while wearing their uniforms.

Superintendent Tom Crowe reviewed six disciplinary cases from the squad this year, an unusual number for one group. Crowe issued a letter to students and parents about the controversy last week, saying school administrators followed normal discipline procedures.

Tisha Billelo said she filed a 130-page appeal with the district after Ward removed her daughter from the squad. She said Ward treated her daughter unfairly and did not properly calculate demerits over minor incidents. The appeal is pending.

“She has not been a model of behavior herself,” Billelo said.

The Carroll school district lost two cheerleading sponsors this year when cheerleaders and parents became sharply divided over tryout rules and other issues.

Officials in many districts are hesitant to speak about cheerleading. Carroll Superintendent David Faltys issued a statement, saying many families have invested a lot of time, training and money in cheerleading.

“I think it is the same for any parent,” Faltys said. “If it’s important to your child, it becomes extremely important to you. It only stands to reason that when parents have questions and concerns about the way the program rules are administered, emotions will get involved.”

Littlejohn said parents from Carroll Senior High still confront each other at football games.

“The girls have united at this point, but the moms have not,” she said.

Frisco went through a public flap during the last school year when officials tried to boost the academic requirements for trying out. Parents and coaches in other districts, including Highland Park, Arlington and Irving, say they’ve also experienced quieter disputes over tryouts.

Many disagreements never reach a public audience. And some cheerleading squads operate without squabbles. Two coaches from Dallas said they rarely encounter problems, and suggested that teams in the suburbs may suffer more strife because suburban parents tend to spend more time and money on cheerleading.

Wherever it occurs, the problems can have high stakes for kids.

Sarah Edwards, a captain on the Highland Park squad, said some girls take it casually, but it’s emotional for others.

“It is certainly a big deal to be a Highland Park cheerleader,” Sarah said. “I can see how people are emotional.”

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C1.