Confidence issues - 13 year old boy

[Ggirl27]

I have a son who in most areas of his life is confident and well adjusted. He has an xbox and youtube obsession as most other teens seem to these days! He is into his sport and plays rugby at the weekend. With me and his sister he is loud and sometimes obnoxious - he talks to adults well and chats happily with his friends – I would never put him in the 'shy' category. Yesterday he confided in me that he can't talk to girls. He wants to, his friends are starting to get girlfriends, and one of them hugged a girl yesterday which he feels he would never be able to do. He says if he tries to talk he physically shakes and clams up. I have tried to explain that girls are not aliens, that we are the same, that girls also feel scared too but of course my words won't fix the problem. I set him a challenge today to go and stand with a friend while they are talking to a girl and listen to their conversation and maybe join in if he felt he could. He has done this but couldn't pluck up the courage to talk. Does anyone else have any advice on how I could help him?

[LastingLight]

Would he roleplay with you? Pretend that you're a girl he wants to talk to and try out various strategies.