Jimmy Joseph and his teammates will look to improve on an eighth-place finish from the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games.

Pierce (North Syracuse, N.Y.) and teammates Augusto Perez (East Syracuse, N.Y.), Jimmy Joseph (Hartford, N.Y.), Danell Libby (Sprakers, N.Y.) and Mark Taylor (Deansboro, N.Y.) open play Saturday against Norway.

This will be the second trip to the World Championship for Pierce, Joseph and Libby, who teamed up with Perez at the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games. The team finished eighth at the Paralympics and eighth at the 2005 World Wheelchair Championship. Perez, who only began curling in 2005, has quickly caught on to the game and adds a great amount of skill to the team.

The team will compete at the Wheelchair Worlds in a round robin against teams from Canada, Denmark, Japan, Korea, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland. Canada won the wheelchair curling event at the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games and Scotland is the defending world wheelchair champion (There was not a world championship in 2006 due to the Paralympic Games).

Teams must be composed of a mix of men and women when competing at the national and world level. No sweeping of the stone is allowed in competition. Rather, athletes rely upon arm strength and true aim. Games at the national and world level are six ends in length in accordance with the World Curling Federation's rules of play.

Here is a look at Team USA's schedule:

Saturday: 1:30 p.m. v. Norway; 7:30 p.m. v. Sweden
Sunday: 1:30 p.m. v. Russia
Monday: 1:30 p.m. v. Japan; 7:30 p.m. v. Denmark
Tuesday: 7:30 p.m. v. Scotland
Feb. 21: 1:20 p.m. v. Switzerland; 7:30 p.m. Canada
Feb. 22: 3 p.m. v. Korea

The semifinals are scheduled at 7 p.m. Feb. 23. The bronze-medal game will be played at 10 a.m. Feb. 24, followed by the gold-medal game at 11 a.m.