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Bri Robertson is the fourth of five children, sandwiched in age between Jason, who is a finalist for the NHL’s rookie of the year award with the Dallas Stars, and Nick, a forward who is regarded among the top prospects with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“Whatever my brothers say, it’s a lie,” she said. “I can definitely kick their butts.”

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Growing up in Pasadena, Calif., and in Northville, Mich., the siblings were always in competition, and not necessarily just in the sports they played. They might have jostled for position on the couch and bumped a sibling or two off in the process, and they might have schemed to ride shotgun in the family car — developing a race known to take place even now, in adulthood.

“Other than that, it’s all fun,” she said. “But it’s beneficial now, I tell you, knowing jiu-jitsu.”

“If it was prison rules, it’d be different,” said Nick. “If it was strictly jiu-jitsu, yeah, I’d say she’s definitely not someone to screw around with.”

Nick and Jason play a contact sport, but Bri prefers combat.

She competes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, fighting on stages across the United States with the goal of building a professional career. At 20, she has already won a brown belt title in her weight class, even though she holds a purple belt, which is one rung lower on the sport’s hierarchy.

Bri would like to get her black belt. She would like to reach a level where she is paid to travel and teach the martial art to students. She wants to win a major tournament and to help build the sport from its modest professional grounding into something more.

“It’s very independent, which makes it scary for some,” she said. “But I’m a little bit of an attention-grabber. So I kind of like having all eyes on me. I like the performative aspect of jiu-jitsu.”

“Bri is really fearless,” said fight promoter Seth Daniels.

Her coach Ben Zhuang was clear: “She’s going to be the best female grappler in the world.”

Mercedes and Hugh Robertson had three sons who fell deeply in love with hockey, which can create a logistical challenge for any family, let alone one living in Southern California, where the traffic makes arenas seem further away than they might appear on the map.

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Their solution? They bought a mobile version of home: A 25-foot recreational vehicle.

It was white and beige, with maroon swirls. There was an awning on the passenger side that afforded a measure of cover from the elements when it was time to barbecue in a parking lot. Most important, it gave the family an operating base for hockey practices.

Mercedes would gather the youngest children and park in front of the arena. One child would go in for practice, while the others might eat or do homework. The next would go inside, and the rotation would be set in motion again.

Bri tried hockey. The Pasadena Maple Leafs were short a player one season when she was six, and she stepped into the void, but the appeal was fleeting. Instead, as her brothers filed in and out of the RV, she would often be in the back, working on crafts.

“And let me tell you: She was such a trooper,” said Mercedes. “I tell these boys to this day that it wasn’t their own sacrifices. It was everybody, including their sister.”

Bri dabbled in many sports. She tried fencing. She played basketball. Her mother remembered a competitive jump rope camp. She excelled in lacrosse, and for a while, she seemed destined to play at the collegiate level.

“She pretty much would take it from one end to the next, because her teammates couldn’t keep up with her,” her mother said with a chuckle. “Which is great for her. It built her confidence in that regard.”

Her eldest brother, Michael, migrated from athletics toward academics. He is an international business student currently living in Spain. Jason and Nick kept with the game, moving into the Greater Toronto Hockey League and then the Ontario Hockey League before their names were called at the NHL Draft — Jason (39th overall, Dallas) in 2017, and Nick (53rd, Toronto) two years later.

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Bri studied acting. And still, there would be another pull in another direction.

“I would say my journey is different from my brothers,” she said. “They knew, more or less, what they wanted to do ever since they were a baby. I joke that they left the hospital after being born in an Anaheim Ducks onesie.

“I was a little bit — I wouldn’t say confused — but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do.”

In the video posted to YouTube, Bri Robertson has her right arm wrapped around a bearded man’s neck. From her position behind his back, she closes her eyes and recites a line of poetry: “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun.”

She snaps her fingers as the man tumbles to the side, ostensibly unconscious.

“Out like a light,” she says into the camera.

Robertson called it the “Shakespeare Naked Choke Hold.”

She spent a year studying at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, in New York City, and spent a semester at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She still harbours ambitions in the field, but those are for after her time in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

“I think one of my best attributes as a jiu-jitsu fighter — you can say my athleticism, you can say my skills — but I have a very good ability to handle nerves,” she said. “In fact, even in drama school, I was much better than most people at handling my nerves. I actually put myself in very awkward, almost embarrassing situations, just so I can get used to the feeling of having eyes on me.”

Mercedes moved to Michigan from California with the four youngest children for better opportunities in hockey. Hugh commuted from Los Angeles, where he works as a lawyer. The children trained with Todd Allee, who is the co-owner of Mash Gym, in nearby Redford.

They trained three days a week. Michael and Jason were taller, but Nick and Bri were still strong.

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“Nicky was always super-competitive,” said Allee. “He wanted to do more push-ups, pull-ups, run faster, because he knew he wasn’t as big. Bri wanted to keep pace with him.”

The gym offers classes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. And when Bri moved back to Los Angeles, she got more serious about the sport.

There is a list of celebrities who train in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Keanu Reeves used it to prepare for his role in the “John Wick” franchise. Ed O’Neill, who starred in “Married With Children” and “Modern Family,” has discussed his black belt with pride.

“It’s all UFC on the ground,” said Zhuang, Robertson’s coach in Los Angeles. “If the fight hits the ground in UFC, you’re doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu.”

There is no striking in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Competitors maneuver for position and can submit opponents with holds and limb locks. Robertson has been praised for her aggressive style that pursues those tap-outs from opponents.

“She has a mind for art,” said Zhuang. “And art is really what performance at the highest level is.”

There is money to be made for winning at the highest level, but the purses are modest. Allee, the trainer in Michigan, said events could pay competitors hundreds of dollars, and that some might collect $5,000 for their efforts.

“It’s a nice supplement to your training income,” he said, “but it’s not livable.”

Seth Daniels operates Fight 2 Win, which stages dozens of professional cards across the U.S. each year, including events in which Robertson has competed. He said women who compete at the top level could earn up to $10,000 per fight.

Robertson is the brown belt featherweight champion in his circuit. She holds a purple belt, but Daniels said he allowed her to challenge one rung higher “because she’s that good.”

“She’s not afraid to go for techniques that could put her in a compromising position,” he said. “Her technique is really, really solid. Fitness-wise, she’s in incredible shape.”

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Robertson said she usually trains twice a day, six days a week, training with weights four days a week.

“Bri’s work ethic is beyond reproach,” said her father, Hugh. “This is someone who wins a tournament and then is working out in the gym at 1 a.m., after the tournament, because she wants to get ready for the next tournament.”

A simple rule governed the giant office calendar Mercedes Robertson used to organize the chaos of life with active children. It was populated, month-by-month, with hockey practices and power-skating, with stick-handling sessions and summer camps, and the rule was it all had to be written in pencil.

“God forbid anybody put any pen on there,” she said with a laugh, “because it was too permanent, and it wasn’t going to be easy for me to erase once things changed.”

Today, the calendar lives on Google, but it can only be populated two weeks at a time.

Michael was in Barcelona. Jason was in Riga, Latvia, playing in the world hockey championship after his season ended in Dallas. Nick was in Toronto, recovering from an injury. Bri had a competition in Miami, but returned home to Southern California to recover from an ankle injury.

As she thought about it, Mercedes did not think she had a family photo — with all the kids together in the same room — more recent than one taken three years ago.

“It’s a little sad,” she said. “But, you know, they’re onto bigger and better things.”

Mercedes and Hugh traveled extensively to watch Jason and Nick when they played in the OHL, and they were in the crowd when Bri fought in Miami earlier in the spring.

“It’s completely different than the boys,” said Mercedes. “It’s anticipation. And it’s knowing just how much she trains for it. You could be so strong in the first two-and-a-half minutes, and if you drop your guard in the last 20 seconds and put yourself in a compromising position … but Bri loves that.”

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“I can tell you my heart races when she’s fighting,” said Hugh. “Not that she’s going to get hurt or anything, but because it’s one-on-one skill. There’s nobody in between. There’s no referees. There’s no team. You are doing it, and it’s quick.”

Nick has watched his sister’s fights online.

“When you’re playing on a hockey team, your team gets the recognition coming onto the ice,” he said. “She’s her own team. It’s way different for us, seeing how it’s an individual sport. She’s representing herself, and our family, she’s not representing a team or a city.”

Not long after the Leafs picked him in the draft, Nick went for breakfast with his family. On the way out of the restaurant, he angled his way toward the front passenger side door. He was going to win the race for shotgun.

Bri thought otherwise. She moved in and put him in a hold.

“She’s definitely slippery,” he said.

Mercedes, annoyed, told him to get in the backseat.

“When we’re all together, honestly? It’s us at the dinner table just talking so much trash on the other person, and then everyone else is just cheering each other on,” Bri said with a laugh. “And then, if it’s a really good slam, we’ll high-five.”

(Photo: Courtesy of Kyu Lee / Fight 2 Win)

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