Howdy Tuco and welcome. Range rules and props will have alot to do with stage design, some ranges are not set up for downrange movement thus back and forth...side to side. There are plenty of stages with split pistols, 5 rounds then move and 5 more rounds. Usually not more than once in a six stage match, if you have too many it forces the Gunfighter category to shoot 5, move shoot 5 more, or split their pistols double duelist style. (Double Duelist style) 5 rounds with right hand and 5 rounds with left. You will rarely if ever see splits with rifle, too much muscle memory......to do it (say 5 & 5) the shooter would have stop levering after the 5th round, hammer down on empty case then move......or action open round on carrier or in chamber, but you cannot close the action in this condition till stopped. We have learned to lever our rifles so fast this could cause problems, plus the masses do not like stages that will trip them up and cause penalties.
SASS is a family sport for the young and old alike, and many are first time shooters. Stages need to be designed for all ages and abilities, memory contests and foot races are frowned upon. Having said all that SASS stages need not be boring and repetitive. I usually set up stages with three shooting positions, or two postions with a reactive target, bonus reloads and/or downrange movement. One way to split up the stage is with the shotgun at 2 or 3 different postions and between the other firearms. There are many ways, props, targets and target placements to break up the stages........and shooters choice on where to start the stage (left or right) or which firearm to start and finish with.
Try to go to as many different matches as you can, you may find some clubs that do things a little different, I know around here no two clubs have the same type of match. After you've been around a while make suggestions to the match director, offer to write a few stages for them to approve or tweek to fit the range.
And don't ferget Wild Bunch, there you'll find stages much more involved than SASS. I've been meaning to put all of our stages on a PDF file to share, maybe this will get me started. Good Luck
Jefro
Relax-Enjoy