Uncontrollable emotions

My 11 year old son does not handle failure well and he will cry when things to not go his way or the way he expects them to go.  He is a talented athlete, but he expect too much of himself.  He expects to not make a mistake.  His mother and I have explained to him mulitple times that it is alright to make a mistake and that he needs to give himself permission to make a mistake.  However, nothing seems to help him.  He will cry when he strikes out in baseball (every time).  He will cry is he misses a shot putt in golf.  He will cry if he loses a tennis match.
We are constantly trying to use positive praise when he handles situations well, and we do not criticize his negative performance.  However, he does not seem to be getting any better.  Even though we talk to him before the situation occurs and try to prepare him for the challenge, he can not handle his emotions and will cry (some times uncontrollable).

Can you recommend how to address his uncontrollable emotions and what we shoudl do when it happens?

[aid821]

Maybe a different approach is needed with him.  Take him out and work on his skills in a one on one situation. therefore he can coach him and be there when things don't go to plan, for example if he misses a hit with the baseball (i'm imagining he doesn't breakdown when he's just playing around, with no-one around?). This will increase his self esteem and make him feel like he is improving with the positive reinforcement that is provided one on one.

Ensure you participate with him and make some wrong shots, horrible hits and misses to model the behaviour of someone that makes a mistake, and hopefully over time he will follow the right example.

It'll be good to tackle this quickly as i imagine he will be starting high school soon, and i'm afraid of the negative attention he may receive if he breaks down in class if he misses a ball etc. All the best :)

[cdnskmom]

We are struggling with this problem with our 8 year old daughter right now, and I am just starting to explore treating her with some extra nutritional supplements (probiotic, d and b vitamin, omega oils (Udos oil) all this is in a smoothie... I'll keep you posted if it helps! We are just starting this now.