answer:Its called ear stretching not gauging ears, gauges are the size of the taper/earring piece , :P ex: you’ve stretched your ears to 14gauge. May I asked if it was a painful process to insert them? If your ears were able to handle the taper without a problem, there is no fear for having your hole close up in only a short period during practice. If not, you might experience swelling and discomfort for several days to a week. Does it hurt at the touch and is it now producing “funk”? (natural body healing solution). Make sure the hole stays clean before and after practice is over and wear normal sized earrings in the meantime so the hole will not close up. This is also prevent any harm to your ears during basketball practice – in case there is physical contact involved and your earring is removed or lost. Oil your earlobes and earings with Bio-Oil to ensure you don’t have stretching scars and doubles as a lubricant. You can usually find this in any general store. It reaallly depends on the person, their ear flexibility, and healing time to determine how fast the hole will completely heal over, if ever. – Hope this helps.