I always thought a Zamboni was a stick shift. Am I wrong? If it is a stick, you may need to practice on a car first, just to get your feet wet.
Initial Zamboni models had a manual transmission, according to one web source.
But the current Zamboni models use a hydrostatic transmission, which is like having a continuously variable gear ratio - something you won't find in any common car.
Operating instructions can be found in a web search for
"Zamboni operating manual"
which BTW is distinct from the
"Zamboni maintenance manual"
I'm not sure you can legally download Zamboni's manuals in the U.S.
In
this video, it doesn't look like there is a manual clutch, but we can't quite see what the feet are doing. The continuous speed shift lever clearly works nothing like a manual transmission lever.
Learning to drive a stick shift is fun, and stick shift cars give you a feeling of a lot more control, especially on slippery ice, but I'm guessing it won't help much with modern Zamboni models.
There is another common brand of ice resurfacer - Olympia. E.g., one of their user manuals
is here - it mentions an automatic transmission.