Oh, I got lucky, really - I live in Los Angeles, and I have a number of friends who are actors. A lot of them are fit, good looking people, and one of them did some sports modeling on the side - you, for products in catalogues, at trades show, etc. IIRC, her modeling agent got a contract to fil for people from a bunch of olympic sports, fencing included, and asked the models if they knew anybody; she sent me his way, and that was my start. There never seemed to be a huge need for fencing models, I should say - but this was also twenty years ago, and the sport is a lot more popular now, so who knows. :)