Benkay Kajihara returned as a volunteer with Academy of Art men's soccer in October 2022 after previously volunteering with the Urban Knights for two seasons in 2015 and 2016.

Kajihara has most recently served as a Region IV assistant coach for US Youth Soccer since 2022 as well as a technical director for boys 9v9 and 11v11 with Stanford Strikers.

When he hasn’t been helping Lick-Wilmerding to winning records in each of his three complete seasons since 2019 as the program’s head coach, Kajihara could be found working on staff with Cal North Soccer as an Olympic development program coach since 2017.

Joining ART U men's soccer in 2015, Kajihara helped the Urban Knights achieve their second-highest win total that year as they went 8-8-2 overall. Two student-athletes combined to earn four conference weekly awards while two were named to the All-PacWest Third Team. Meanwhile, seven student-athletes were awarded with Academic All-PacWest awards.

Beginning with San Francisco Glens SC in 2013, Kajihara was originally the program’s youth development director before serving as assistant coach for the USL2 team. He progressed to director of program operations, academy soccer coach, and finished his time as a MLS Next coach over his final two years.

Kajihara was previously a coach for Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep, Archbishop Riordan High School, and the Santa Clara Sporting 97G when they captured the US Club Regional Championship in 2011.

In his playing years, Kajihara could be found as a center back/midfielder for the University of San Francisco Dons. His best season came as a sophomore in 2011 when he played in 11 of 19 matches with a career-high eight starts. One of the highlights of that season included playing 104 minutes in a 2-1 victory over No. 25 Portland on Oct. 2. Aside from his collegiate career, the native of Santa Cruz, Calif. also spent 10 years with his Division I/Premier hometown club, the Santa Cruz Breakers.