When they look back on their own high school athletic careers, Jorge Luna Jr. and Valerie Luna remember being average athletes.

Luna Jr., a 1992 United graduate, played basketball while Valerie Luna played volleyball at Nixon until graduating in 1997.

But it’s a different experience when the two watch their son, Jorge Luna III, throw touchdown passes for the Longhorns on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and their daughter, Victoria Luna, rise high for thunderous kills on the volleyball court.

The brother-sister duo are superstars. They were arguably the two best players in their respective sports this past fall and live under the same roof and eat at the same dinner table.

It’s created a surreal experience for the family.

“What is amazing to me is that we were never even close to the level these two kids are,” Luna Jr. said. “It’s crazy. It’s unbelievable to me.”

Valerie Luna added, “We always try to stay grounded. Yes, we do think they’ve done a lot and it’s great to see that, but we try to stay humble. We don’t want to say they’re the best, but they’re good because they’re hard workers, disciplined and have a schedule. They’re normal kids. They’re still brats.”

Luna III wrapped up a senior season to remember on the gridiron not only by United’s standards, but for Laredo as a whole. His 3,908 passing yards this season were 321 yards short of the single-season Laredo record, while his 43 touchdown passes were one shy of the single-season mark for gunslingers to play in the Gateway City. He ended his prep career with 6,256 yards and 69 touchdowns as one of eight Laredo quarterbacks to surpass 6,000 career yards and eighth all time in passing touchdowns.

Following his impressive senior campaign at quarterback, Luna III was named District 30-6A and All-City Most Valuable Player. He quarterbacked a Longhorns team that averaged 35 points per game and reached the third round.

Victoria Luna, meanwhile, shined on Tuesday evenings and Saturday afternoons. The do-everything volleyball star compiled 364 kills, 197 digs and 63 blocks as a junior this fall to lead United to the playoffs. She earned Hitter of the Year honors in the District 30-6A and All-City awards and will arguably be Laredo’s top returning volleyball talent as a senior next year.

When people ask the Luna parents about the secret to their kids’ success, it’s pretty simple: They work for it.

“Other than being big kids, they’re not natural athletes,” Luna Jr. said. “It’s the work they put in, the fact they’ve been able to train with the coaches they’ve trained with and the year-round training. They don’t have a break. As soon as they get out of season, they’re back to training.”

Sports have been the identity of the Luna family. The kids were destined to succeed as athletes. As products of Borchers Elementary School and Elias Herrera Middle School, there’s hardly a sport the two didn’t play. Luna III played basketball and football and even had a short stint with baseball, while Victoria Luna started gymnastics when she was 3 years old and, because of her height at such a young age, excelled in basketball and volleyball and even tried soccer.

The years in youth sports immediately paid off for Victoria Luna. Because of her height and the strength she built in her arms and legs from years of gymnastics, she had an advantage over her brother when they were kids.

“Ever since they were babies, we have so many videos where she’s like ‘Jorgie stop right now,’ and bop, she’s beating up on Jorge,” Luna Jr. said. “She was always the bully since she was bigger. Jorgie, she’d grab him and throw him on the ground.”

The Lunas had these sumo suits, and the kids would wrestle around in them. Luna III would have his friends over, but Victoria Luna, bigger than the boys, would throw everyone around with her gymnast strength.

Despite early jokes that he got his mom’s height and not his dad’s 6-foot-5 stature, Luna III eventually grew into his body and now stands about 6-foot-2.

“He’s always saying it’s your fault, Mom. I could’ve been taller,” Valerie Luna said while laughing.

It was always a competition between the siblings. Whether it was racing in the pool or playing basketball in the driveway or at the park, competition was in their genetic makeup.

There are almost too many childhood stories to tell, but the intense back-and-forth basketball games were the first to come to mind.

“We would 1 v 1, and every time I’d win she’d get mad, and when she’d win I’d get mad and upset,” Luna III said. “As we grew up playing sports with different people, it made us more competitive. Being in that environment (against each other) made us better.”

For Victoria Luna, the constant competition against her older brother would serve a purpose that wouldn’t come to fruition until years later. As a girl, it helped mold her into a more physically and mentally strong athlete. Because of the environment she grew up in, she feels she thrives under pressure on the court.

“I can handle it more since I had a brother,” Victoria Luna said. “I get irritated bad with him, but if it’s a girl or someone I don’t know, I’m good. I can handle pressure because being young and arguing with him and competing with him … it’s not as much pressure in volleyball.”

Eventually, the two had to narrow down their sports. Once he got to middle school and especially when he got to United for high school, football just clicked for Luna III. During his freshman year, United coach David Sanchez reached out to the Lunas to tell them he was taking an interested look at Luna III. Sanchez set them up with a quarterback coach in San Antonio to work year-round, and from that point on, it was all football for the oldest of the two siblings.

Between traveling to San Antonio and Austin for extra training, Luna III’s improvement over the years came down to simply putting in the hard work and reps to get better. It also helped that he was playing for the Sanchez-led Longhorns, who have a history of producing excellent quarterbacks.

All of that served as motivation.

“It’s the culture there. It’s different there than any other school,” Luna III said. “I knew I had to be my absolute best to do great there.”

After he sat and watched Atzel Chavez Jr. for two years, Luna III got his shot early in his junior year when the starter went down with an injury. Luna III never looked back. Once he became the full-time starter, he exploded. Of his 2,256 yards his junior year, 2,195 came from Week 3 to Week 10. All 25 of his touchdowns came in those eight games.

As a senior, he erupted for one of the most memorable seasons by a Laredo quarterback.

After games, he’d be swarmed by kids wanting autographs, pictures and accessories he wore in games.

But to Victoria Luna, he’ll always be little Jorgie to her and she’ll always be little Vicky to him.

“It’s super fun being able to watch him,” Victoria Luna said. “We’ve grown up together and are only one year apart, so I’ve watched him grow up and become this amazing football player. It’s fun being able to cheer him from the stands. Everybody knows he’s my brother.”

Victoria Luna’s journey was a bit different. Her chance came much earlier.

When she entered high school, she thought she’d be showing up for junior varsity volleyball tryouts. But the night before tryouts, she was told to report to varsity tryouts. Once she made varsity as a freshman, it became easy for volleyball to be her one year-round sport and to give up basketball.

“Volleyball became natural to me,” she said. “I feel like I picked it up quickly.”

Similar to her brother being motivated by Sanchez and the notorious Longhorns football team, Victoria Luna felt the pressure to get better playing for Lety Longoria’s Longhorns. Over the past two years, Longoria has built United into one of the top volleyball programs in South Texas.

While she can be a bit reserved off the court, on the court she is very expressive and her explosive kills give her plenty of reasons to smile and yell with her teammates. So far in her United career, she’s recorded 601 kills.

She’s another name to add to the impressive list of United hitters who have come up through the ranks under Longoria’s watch. By the time her prep career is over, Victoria Luna’s name will sit among names like Lauren Arzuaga and Mia Molina, who each surpassed 1,000 kills for the Longhorns and went on to play in college.

The rise for both siblings has come with plenty of support from each other.

“Our life really revolved around sports. It was a family thing,” Luna Jr. said. “If she played basketball or volleyball, we’d all go. He would support her and scream. When it was his time to play, we’d all go and Vicky would be there screaming and supporting Jorge. It’s been back and forth since (they were little) to now.”

The rise also featured lots of travel around Texas. After a 32-year career in law enforcement, Luna Jr. was able to retire in late 2024 and really dedicate his full time to helping the kids improve. He mentioned he and Luna III would travel so much that they’d be sleeping in their cars before quarterback camps, while Valerie would run Victoria around to camps and tournaments.

“It’s very hectic and nonstop,” Valerie Luna said. “But we’re so used to it that we need it. It’s just our daily lives now. It’s just a lot of traveling and running around, discipline and learning from both of them. We’re happy doing it.”

The memories from the trips are something both siblings can eventually look back on with fondness. Luna III joked about getting some time away from his parents, but ultimately said he’ll miss traveling Texas with his dad and family.

“I’m going to miss them a lot,” Luna III said. “Being around them all the time, I obviously have a great relationship with them. They’ll always be there for me and have my back.”

The mom and daughter, meanwhile, have the same demeanor, and sometimes that leads to bickering, but there’s still tons of laughing and shopping on the volleyball trips that both will miss one day.

“Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not,” Valerie Luna said with a laugh. “The biggest thing with her is waking her up in the morning. It’s really a job to wake her up. She likes to sleep.”

While they’re proud of their accomplishments on the field and court, the Luna parents are just as proud, if not more so, of their kids’ attitude and the way they carry themselves.

“Everyone gravitates to them because they’re good kids. They don’t think they’re the best,” Luna Jr. said. “They get along with the other kids.”

There’s only one more fall of the Luna family at United. Luna III will graduate this spring, leaving Victoria Luna by herself at United next fall. When it’s all said and done, the Luna family will miss the camaraderie of the United community.

“We’ve become friends with everyone,” Luna Jr. said. “The coaches, the parents, it becomes a family deal. When we go to the games, we eat before the games and after the games. During the week, we’re doing pasta nights and all the parents get together to do it. It’s always been a tight-knit family, but with everyone—not just with our family, but with the whole community of football and volleyball.”

It’s all but guaranteed both Luna III and Victoria Luna will continue their athletic careers in college. Division II offers have started to roll in for Luna III, while Victoria has already gained interest from mid-major Division I programs and plenty of Division II schools.

The married couple of nearly 20 years, Luna Jr. and Valerie Luna, are already making plans to get an RV to travel around and watch their kids play in college. Given how much time they’ve dedicated to being sports parents, it’ll be strange not having the United Longhorns in their everyday lives a year from now—and it’ll be strange for the siblings not to be at each other’s games, screaming in the crowd.

“Our biggest worry is what’s going to happen when sports are over. We’re praying that we’ll get another couple of years to watch them (in college),” Luna Jr. said. “Then we’re worried when that ends, what’s life going to be like? That’s what we know in this family. We’ve traveled together and it’s just been our lives.

“I’m afraid for what the future is going to be like without them. It’s become such a part of our lives. We’re going to have to find actual hobbies.”